Play the Game
by KellyAnnie
Summary: When House's apartment is infested with roaches, he needs a place to stay. But Wilson's not taking him in, and two of the three ducklings have excuses. Where can he go? HC, rated M for later chapters. Completed!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: I definitely don't own any of the characters of House, MD. If I did ... I'd SO play with them more often.

**Chapter One**

House had known when he woke up in the morning that today would be one hell of a day. Once he'd managed to get out of bed, his leg had made him want to die a little, and the morphine stash he always kept had mysteriously disappeared. _Probably Wilson_, he thought angrily, and he limped his way into the bathroom.

Once there, he popped a few Vicodin and leaned heavily against the sink. The bed was calling to him. It was! It was saying, "Greg … come lay back down… The hospital can wait." Of course, it stopped saying that as soon as his damned cell phone rang.

With a sigh, he opened it. "Yeah." The stereotypical response just never got old for him.

"Sorry to wake you," the ever-merry voice of Wilson came through. "Your ducklings are looking for you. They have a case."

"Then why didn't _they_ call my phone?" he groused.

"I think they're afraid you're a dragon in the morning. Chase claims you breathe fire."

House smirked and limped his way back into the bedroom, grabbing his cane and going to the kitchen. "Chase wouldn't know what I breathe in the morning. But tell him that you do. See what kind of reaction that gets you. Should be interesting."

"Cute, House."

"You love me. Hopefully more than your multitude of wives, since we haven't broken up yet." His smirk widened when he heard the angry, flustered sigh come from Wilson.

"Just get to the hospital."

House cringed at the dial tone he got and hung up his own phone. He'd get dressed, brush his teeth, and get to the hospital, he supposed. Just after some sort of breakfast…

He turned to the sink and frowned. There was a cockroach … in the sink… Carefully, he lifted up a dirty pan. Underneath was a nice little pod of the devils.

"Goddammit."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

It was three hours later when House finally arrived at the hospital. He checked the clock on the wall and rolled his eyes. Even _he_ hated arriving past noon, and it was going on two in the afternoon. Stupid exterminators…

He pushed open the door to his office and was met with not three, but five accusatory stares. Cameron sat in the chair behind his desk, Chase stood next to the desk with his arms crossed. Wilson was sitting on the couch with Cuddy, and Foreman was pacing near the door to their diagnostic room. This couldn't be good.

Instantly, he put his hands up in surrender. "Not that you'll believe me, but it wasn't my fault." He went to his desk and nodded for Cameron to get out of his chair. WHY did she always sit there! Maybe she actually want to be him… Enough! Back to the point. "I had to call the exterminator. Roaches." He looked over to Wilson. "I need a place to stay for a few days."

"You're looking at me?" Wilson asked incredulously. "I'm not even moved into my new place yet for you to come over and wreck it."

"I don't wreck things when I stay somewhere," House responded, mockingly wounded.

Cuddy stood, bristled, and frowned. "You two can have your little lover's quarrel somewhere else. Where the hell have you been?"

House's gaze slid over to Wilson. "Can I get her for sexual harassment on that? She claimed I was gay."

Wilson, however, rolled his eyes and told House to answer the question.

With a frown of his own, House re-focused on Cuddy. "I told you. I found a colony of roaches in my kitchen sink. I called the exterminators and waited for them to show, only to have them _evacuate_ me from my apartment and tell me to come back in five days."

"And it didn't cross your mind to call _here_ to explain this? You have a patient!" Cuddy exclaimed, disregarding the fact that all three of House's ducklings were in the room to watch him get reamed. Hell, he deserved to be chewed out in front of his employees.

"Well, when no one called to say the patient was dying or anything, I figured it wasn't urgent," he replied, making a face and turning to his computer to open up his e-mail and check it, though he was pretty sure that Cameron already had. But he needed to keep himself occupied.

He hadn't thought to call because he really had figured that if the patient took a turn for the worse, someone would call him. Heaven forbid he come to the conclusion that his team could actually handle something without him there. He'd hired them for a reason; that reason, in fact. They ought to be able to handle things without him.

"House, you can't just waltz in here whenever you want to. You keep this up and I'll have to fire you!"

"Cuddy. Please. You wouldn't fire me if the entire board told you to." House stood, twirling his cane in his fingers. "Look, will it make you feel better if I apologize? Fine. Sorry I had to come in later than expected," he said, not bothering to wait for an answer.

"And for not calling," Wilson piped in.

"And for not calling," House aped. He then looked at Wilson suspiciously. "That sounds awfully rehearsed… Use that one a few times at home?"

"Yeah… You're not staying with me," Wilson said with a frown, pushing himself up from the couch and leaving.

House tapped his cane on the floor anxiously and gave Cuddy a look of frustration. "Look, I'll never do it again, all right? Now go yell at a thoracic surgeon for removing the wrong mass. I'm sure one of them has done it."

"House, you—"

"Please?" he whined. "I'll make sure to have Cameron call me every morning to wake me up for at least a week."

Cuddy let out a snort of laughter and rolled her eyes. "I don't think Cameron would do that."

"I know Cameron wouldn't do that," Cameron herself said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Find someone else to do your lackey work, House." She turned to Foreman and Chase. "I'm going to go write the symptoms on the board."

"I write on the board!" House exclaimed with a glare, pushing past Chase and going through the door before Cameron could. "Cuddy. I promise I'll come to your office later for my spanking. Be gone now, before someone drops a house on you!" He stopped and smirked. "Heh… House… Get it?"

Cuddy took in a deep breath, gave House a glare, and stalked out of the room, leaving a grinning Chase, an eye-rolling Cameron, and a smirking Foreman behind her.

"Onward!" House said, holding the door for his ducklings. He made his way to the dry-erase board and picking up a marker. "Hit me with some symptoms, kids."

The three of them took their seats around the table and opened up the files. Chase was the first to speak up. "Twenty-three year old female, Caucasian. Came into the clinic a few weeks ago saying that she'd missed her period for the past two months. The pregnancy test came back negative."

House nodded and wrote _missed cycle_ on the board, then looked to Foreman.

Foreman shifted and tapped the folder with his index finger as he recalled the symptoms. "Anemia, diagnosed at age fifteen. Patient was married at age nineteen and has been with her husband since. She's had four miscarriages."

Turning back to the board, House wrote _four miscarriages_ before turning to Cameron. "I'm sure you got the most detailed patient history possible," he told her a bit scathingly.

She frowned and looked at the folder in front of her. "Patient has been diagnosed with type one diabetes as well as anemia. The family history is practically spotless, except for the mother, who currently has osteoporosis."

House frowned as he wrote the remaining information on the board. "So we have a woman with four miscarriages, two skipped periods, type one diabetes, and anemia?" he asked with a quirked eyebrow. "And all before twenty-five. That's just sad. But here's my question: why was she admitted? And why was she given to _me_?"

Cameron cleared her throat and rustled the papers, drawing House's attention almost immediately. "What aren't you telling me?" he demanded.

"She was admitted when she had a seizure. She's never had one before."

House had been ready to throw the marker back down on the dry-erase board's holder when Cameron made her confession. Instead of throwing down the marker, he quirked his head to the side. "Now THAT… That's interesting."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:** They still aren't mine, damn it! I've tried talking to people about owning them, but they want MONEY. What is that?

**A/N:** Thank you to everyone for the reviews! It's always great when people feed the author.

**Chapter Three**

By six that evening, House had actually _met_ with the patient. Claire. Corey. Carey. Some 'C' name that he couldn't remember. He got a history from her; it was the same that she'd given to the ducklings. Of course, he'd gone one step further and talked to mommy dearest, who claimed that there hadn't been any seizures prior to the one the C-girl managed to have before admittance to the hospital.

And that just didn't seem right. Where was daddy, anyway? He'd have to ask that one the next time he went by. Or he'd have Cameron do it. She was the type to be able to get information that could be potentially destructive. But he needed to think.

So he went back to his office and sat, chin on his fist, as he twirled his cane and looked at the wall with narrowed eyes. He couldn't put the girl on any medications other than phenytoin and wait for the seizures to stop. He'd had Chase put the girl on the meds about a half an hour ago. So far, so good.

But he still didn't know how the hell a girl could just _start_ having seizures. They didn't just fall out of the sky, after all. And once she'd started having them, she couldn't seem to stop. C-girl had managed to pull of at least three more seizures that he knew about. Probably some that he didn't. There was no way for him to tell other than to put her under twenty-four hour surveillance and put her on some fancy equipment to check for absent seizures.

What the hell was going on?

His thoughts were interrupted by a light knocking on his office door. He turned his attention to see Cameron standing there with a carry-out box. With a quirked eyebrow, he took his legs off of his desk.

"You haven't eaten since you got here," Cameron said softly, setting the box down in front of him. "Wilson wanted you to have something, so he asked me to bring this."

House opened the box and saw a nice, cold Ruben. With a small smirk, he lifted the bread. That smirk turned to a frown. "There are _pickles_…" he complained with a grimace.

Cameron sighed and rolled her eyes. "Wilson ordered it," she informed House. "Not me." When House didn't change his one and only sad puppy look, she rolled her eyes again and took the pickles off of the sandwich, eating them herself. "There. Now there are no pickles."

He looked from the sandwich to Cameron, who was now licking pickle juice off of her fingers. "The excess juice will still be there."

She gave him a bland look. "Well, I'm not licking it off of your sandwich. So deal."

He smirked at her and put the sandwich back together. "Thanks, Mom," he mocked before taking a bite.

"Don't get it all over yourself, now," she returned, making a face. "Because I'm not washing your clothes, either." She sat in the chair across from his desk and leaned back comfortably into it. "Wilson also wants me to relay the message that, even though he bought you dinner, you still aren't staying with him."

House frowned and picked at his chips. "I'm staying with him whether he likes it or not. Tell him that."

Cameron glared. "Tell him yourself," she snapped. "The phone is _right there_." After a short pause, during which House ate his sandwich and Cameron glared at him for not doing anything, she sighed. "AND Cuddy wants you to know that you can't stay at the hospital tonight, either. The overflow rooms are all taken."

"By who!" he exclaimed angrily. "Those rooms are never taken!"

"I don't know. Maybe a thoracic surgeon or two that could be pissed at you for insinuating that they always screw up." She picked at a non-existent piece of lint on her lab coat. "Anyway. Chase and Foreman are at dinner and they'll be back up soon. Wilson suggested you ask them if you can stay with one of them."

House chewed his sandwich thoughtfully. "And he didn't suggest I ask you?"

"House… You may not think so, but Wilson _does_ have a brain. He knows better than to suggest something like that." She stood and made her way to the door.

"Why wouldn't he suggest it? Because it isn't proper? He wanted our little date to work out, Cameron."

Cameron stopped at the doorway and took a breath in before turning to face House with a small frown marring her features. "Wilson knows that I don't have a spare bed," she stated softly. "He also knows that I would never let you sleep on the couch with your leg." With that tidbit of information, she sped out of his office before he could ask any more questions.

"This day could not possibly get any more interesting," he mumbled to his sandwich. Wait a minute… Why would…? He grabbed his cane and darted after Cameron. Once he'd caught her, he grabbed hold of her upper arm. "Why does Wilson know that you don't have a spare bed?" he asked accusingly.

Cameron blinked and put on her best poker face. "Why does it matter?"

"Wilson shouldn't know anything about your bed."

Her eyebrows shot up and she gave House a small, knowing smile. "First, it's none of your business whether he knows anything about my bed or not. Second, he knows because he stayed over one night."

House glowered at her. "You just work your way around the doctors at this place, don't you?"

"Fuck you," she spat at him. "He was sick of sleeping on your lumpy as hell couch and dealing with your rude, hurtful remarks about his failed marriage with Julie. I offered him my bed for the night. I took the couch."

House loosened his grip on Cameron's arm and stared at her intensely. "I thought you-"

"You thought I slept with him," she replied hotly. "I know this may be near impossible for you to believe, House, but not all women are whores. Just the ones you hire."

"I hired you," he pointed out triumphantly.

"I _meant_ the ones you pick up off of the corner," she replied hotly.

"That was low."

"That was true." She wrenched her arm out of his grasp. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to check on Caitlin."

He was tempted to ask who Caitlin was before he realized that she was C-girl. Damn it all… He let out an angry breath and went back to his office to finish his sandwich and to think some more.

He pulled out one of his many medical tomes and scoured through it, looking for anything that might cause all of … Carey? Camry? Ugh. C-girl. Anything that might cause all of C-girl's symptoms. He was interrupted by Chase and Foreman returning from dinner. Glancing up, he nodded to them. "Cameron's with the patient."

"She said she would be," Chase replied, shoving his hands into the pockets of his lab coat.

"We ran into her in the hallway," Foreman said slowly. "She seemed upset, but she wouldn't tell us what it was."

"She gave me a Ruben with pickles. I made her eat them," House said with a quirked eyebrow. "On to important matters… Which of you two has a spare bed or couch?"

Chase gave a snort of laughter. "Don't look at me," he said, holding up his hands. "My place is furniture-free right now." Foreman knew about Chase's financial troubles, and frowned a bit in pity at his colleague.

"Foreman?"

"No way," he said with a shake of his head. "I've got a live-in girlfriend."

House opened his mouth to make a snide remark about it when Chase cut him off. "What about Cameron?"

Foreman snorted and crossed his arms. "That'll go over well. 'Hey, Cameron, hope you don't mind if House stays with you for a couple of days. Yeah, we know he's always riding your ass at work, but hey! Now he can do it in the comfort of your own home!' I'm sure she'd love that."

"I won't be riding any part of Dr. Cameron," House grumbled angrily, finishing off his sandwich and picking up his cane, striding to the doorway. "I am, however, going to find Wilson and tell him to man up and let me stay with him. Go, ducklings. Make peace with the seizing patient."

Orders given, House made his way up to Wilson. He got into the oncologist's office and stopped. Who the hell was Wilson with? He never took patients this late. House squinted and saw, upon closer inspection, that _Cameron_ was sitting across his desk from him. What was she doing up here?

Frowning, House knocked on Wilson's window. He was met with Wilson's frowning face and was vaguely disappointed when he saw Wilson order Cameron to stay put. He met his friend outside of his office, closing the door behind him.

"You accused Cameron of sleeping with me?" he asked in awe.

"Well … yes," House acquiesced. At Wilson's disapproving look, he shifted and placed both hands on his cane. "You said yourself that you'd put moves on her if you were given the chance!"

"I went to her because I could talk to her about what was happening with Julie. It was something I couldn't do with you, House," Wilson said, his voice soft, but laced with anger and … did House detect a hint of hurt? "You think it's okay to mock people all of the time and it isn't. They won't take it all of the time."

"Thanks for the boy scout tip," House said scathingly. "I needed one. I was over-due for it, really."

Wilson merely shook his head. "You aren't staying with me, House. Besides the fact that my place really is still in shambles and hardly livable enough for me, you keep pissing me off," he finished with a small smile. They were still friends, of course. They always would be. The friendship was just very, very strained sometimes.

"So where the hell am I supposed to stay? Cuddy said the overflow rooms are all full, and Chase and Foreman both have cock-and-bull stories."

"You have a couch in your office."

House grumbled and shifted again, trying to relieve the discomfort in his leg. When he realized it wasn't about to let up, he popped a couple of his pills. "Just thinking about it gives me leg pain."

Wilson sighed and crossed his arms across his chest. "Then … I suggest you do some fancy footwork with Cameron. She's your last choice here. Unless you plan on asking Cuddy."

House shivered. "You kidding me? She'd tie me to her bedposts."

Wilson laughed. "Go grovel," he said, patting House's shoulder. "I'm getting dinner."

He watched as his friend left the office and tapped his cane on the floor in agitation. Grovel? He didn't _grovel_. He _manipulated_. There really was a subtle difference… And he really didn't want to stay with Cameron. She might try to … rub her niceness all over him or something.

He eyed the couch in Wilson's office and frowned. It looked even more uncomfortable than the one in his office. So, with an annoyed sigh, he slowly opened the door and cleared his throat.

Cameron sat in the chair in front of Wilson's desk, keeping her back turned to House. "Where did Wilson go?" she asked, not bothering to turn to acknowledge House's presence.

"Dinner," House replied, keeping himself in the door and continuing to drop his cane to make a dull, thudding noise on the ground. "He told me to come grovel. I have no place to stay."

"You have a couch in your office," she replied coldly. "There's also a couch in this office."

"Couches bother my leg," he said simply. "Not enough support."

"Then I suggest you get a futon in there." She stood and turned to face him finally, leaning against the chair. "I can't let you stay with me, House."

House bristled. "Why the hell not? You have a decent-sized apartment. And I'm certainly not going to take advantage of the situation," he mocked with an ironic smirk. "I'm pretty sure you can run faster than I can, so it would be fruitless."

"House…" She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I don't want you in my apartment. I have personal things there, and I know you. You'll take one step inside, make some snide remark about how sentimental I am, and then take ownership of the place as if it's your apartment and not mine. And I refuse to feel like a guest in my own home."

"That's brutally honest."

"Wilson's been telling me that honesty really is the best policy." She played absently with a paperweight that she'd found on his desk. "I'm serious, House. I don't want you at my place. You mock me enough at work."

House paused and studied Cameron. She hadn't looked him in the eye when she'd said her spiel about not wanting him over. She also hadn't looked at him when she'd said she was serious, which told him that she really was. Cameron was too nice for her own good, which meant that she really couldn't look someone in the eye when she was telling them something they may not want to hear. To this day, he still didn't know whether she'd ever told a patient that they were dying. Why would she become a doctor if she wasn't capable of that?

Allison Cameron was a puzzle, plain and simple. And he liked figuring out puzzles. "What if … I swear that I will not mock you?" he asked.

"You want me to trust that?"

"Smart girl." He frowned, thinking of something he could give her in return. Something to make her trust his promise. Because, honestly, getting into her apartment might solve a bit more of the puzzle about her. AND he'd have a bed to sleep in instead of a thoroughly uncomfortable couch. "All right… If I mock you, I take your clinic hours."

Cameron's mouth fell open and she blinked at House. "You really don't want to sleep on a couch," she muttered to him. She weighed out the consequences and took a moment to think about them.

If House _did_ mock her, she'd get out of clinic duty. Not that she really minded it, but it would give her a small feeling of triumph seeing House take more clinic than he had to. She tapped her foot on the ground and crossed her arms loosely over her chest.

"Fine," she said with a sigh. "But _just one_ mocking remark and you have two weeks of my clinic hours."

"Two weeks it is," House replied, holding his hand out for her to shake on the deal. Cameron crossed to him and took his hand, shaking it briefly.

"I plan on leaving around eight. I'm sure you still know where I live."

"Yeah… It goes with the territory of being your boss. I have to stalk you." That wasn't mocking; it was teasing. There was a thin line … and he'd get as close as possible to crossing it, of course.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own them and I make no profit from this. Well ... besides the great feeling of putting House and Cameron together.

**A/N:** Thanks again for all of the reviews! I promise House/Cameron-y goodness in the near future.

**Chapter Four**

By a quarter to eight, House was more than ready to leave. C-girl hadn't had another seizure since she'd been put on the medication that he'd given her, and he needed some time away from the hospital to think about all of the possible diseases that C-girl could have. As it stood, nothing accounted for all of her symptoms. And he was counting the type one diabetes and anemia as symptoms. The girl was on too many medications for the diabetes and anemia _not_ to be symptoms.

He plugged his i-Pod headphones into his ears and turned up the music. This was how he thought; this was how he figured it all out. He needed the music to calm him and clear his mind.

Maybe … maybe the girl had more symptoms. Hell, she _had_ to have more symptoms. They just hadn't presented themselves yet. And he had a hunch that, once they did, they still wouldn't provide any answers.

"What causes a woman to randomly start having seizures?" he wondered out loud, his eyes traveling to the CAT scan that still sat on the reading board. There was nothing there that would explain the seizures. Nothing at all. They'd have to do more tests.

The door to his office opened and Cameron stuck her head in. "I'm ready to go if you are," she told him. "I take it you've got your bike here?"

He nodded absently and stood, turning off the lamp on his desk and slinging his knapsack over his back. "I'll follow behind you."

They walked silently to the parking garage, where Cameron went to her sensible Volkswagen Jetta and pulled to the exit, waiting for House to pull up behind her before driving off to her apartment.

She checked in the rearview mirror every so often to make sure that House was still behind her. It made her uneasy to think that he'd be coming into her apartment. It wasn't like she had a problem with him staying the night. She didn't even have a problem with him staying all week. She'd gotten used to many different kinds of roommates throughout college and med school, and it took quite a bit for her to actually want to kick someone out.

What made her uneasy was the fact that her apartment was very personal. There were pictures of her with her family, of her with Dean, of her with friends. House had no business seeing those; she didn't need him having a one-up on her when it came to mocking the hell out of her. He'd promised he wouldn't … while he needed a place to stay. And it had taken her until just a few minutes ago to figure out that she was probably free game once he didn't need her apartment any more.

Great.

She sighed and tapped on the steering wheel as she waited for a light to turn green. Things shouldn't be this complicated. She should be able to let someone stay over in the blink of an eye. And, come to think of it, if it were Wilson, Chase, or Foreman asking for a place to stay, she would. But House? House was a different story.

The light turned green and she sped off to her apartment, House in tow. She finally settled on the fact that she'd just have to thicken her skin some more. Her mother had been telling her that for years as it was; she may as well put it into practice.

They arrived at her apartment and she led the way, unlocking the door and holding it open for House. Once inside, she closed and locked it, staring nervously at the lock. _Please don't let him say anything annoying or derogatory… Please…_

"Nice place," he said simply.

Cameron let out the breath she seemed to have been holding and shrugged out of her coat, placing it on the coat rack next to the door. "I try to clean it every so often," she joked, trying to keep herself from letting her nerves show. After clearing her throat, she pointed to various places of the apartment, introducing them as she did. "Kitchen's that way. Bedroom's down the hallway to your left. The bathroom is across from it. The linen closet is right next to the bedroom."

Her place was small, sure. But it was home, and that was all that really mattered to her. "You can put your things in the bedroom. I'll take the couch. Just let me change the sheets before you-"

"I'm pretty sure I can do that," he told her, giving her a small smirk. "I mean … the bum leg doesn't mean I can't make a bed."

Cameron flushed and tapped her finger on the coat rack. "Well, then… Fresh sheets are in the linen closet. Just put the old ones in the laundry basket in the corner of the room and I'll put them with the rest of my laundry."

The laundry basket… Oh, God, she hadn't left anything out, had she? No … no, she hadn't. No panties or bras lying out. And she was relatively certain that she'd thrown her pants in _over_ her underwear yesterday…

But it was too late to dwell on it as House was already getting the sheets to make the bed and soon disappeared into her bedroom. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, going into the kitchen to get herself a glass of water.

House, meanwhile, had made his way into Cameron's bedroom and set the sheets down on the bedside table, which had been kept immaculately spotless except for a single picture, which happened to be turned face-down. He frowned and picked up the picture. He'd promised not to mock; he never said he wouldn't snoop.

In the picture was Cameron. She was laughing and sitting on some man's lap, with the man's arms securely around her waist as he stuck his tongue out at the photographer. Both of them sat inside of a tire swing. Why would this be turned down…?

He shrugged and looked at the bed. It was a nice bed. Queen sized. He couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter when he saw the sheets. There were _flowers_ on them, for Christ's sake. But then, what more could he expect of Cameron? He'd actually managed to find some bland, pastel yellow sheets in the linen closet, and made as quick work as he could of stripping and remaking the bed.

Surprisingly enough, he followed Cameron's orders and dropped the old sheets into the laundry basket in the corner of her room. Nothing incriminating in there. Though he did wonder how she managed to have pants at the top of the pile and not underwear. Maybe she didn't wear— _Stop. Don't even go there, House._

He tossed a folded comforter onto the bed and dropped his bag at the foot of it before making his way back into the living room, where Cameron was sitting quietly on the couch, her feet tucked up beneath her.

"Your room is bigger than mine, and that irks me," he told her, sitting in the nearest chair.

"It's probably not," she retorted. "It's just got less clutter." She found a footstool and pushed it to him for him to put his leg up.

"Yeah … you don't seem to be a big fan of clutter." He surveyed the apartment and was almost appalled at how clutter-free it was. There was a coffee table as a centre piece for the room, which had a small stack of books on it. The books were in a neat stack, too. Next to them was a small bamboo plant.

Looking past the coffee table was a quaint entertainment centre that held a television set, a VCR/DVD player, a cable box, a stereo system, and, to his pleasant surprise, two gaming consoles. "You play?" he asked, nodding to the system.

Cameron shrugged. "Occasionally. It's mostly here for when my brother visits. He's a die-hard fan of the _Resident Evil_ games. I'm more a fan of _Mario Kart_, myself. So I have a PlayStation and a Game Cube. It works for both of us."

House smirked. "Girls hate strategy games."

"I like strategy games. I hate games where I have to shoot a zombie in the face," she replied with a small laugh. "Every time Adam's over, he plays that game. And every time he plays it, I jump. Zombie games are dumb."

"Zombie games are cool," he argued.

She shrugged, a small smile in place. _Good_, he thought. _At least she won't clench now_. "Do you want anything to drink?" she asked him. "I have water, soy milk, and different kinds of juices. No alcohol."

"What are you, twelve?" he asked incredulously. "What human over the age of twenty-one doesn't keep alcohol in the house?"

"The kind that doesn't drink it often enough to keep it on hand," she retorted. "Water, soy milk, or juice?"

House made a face. "Juice, I guess."

"I have orange, cranberry, and some strawberry kind."

"I'll try the strawberry kind." He had to bite back a scathing, mocking remark and remind himself that only one of them would get him two more weeks of clinic duty. Yuck. And he REALLY wanted to make some comment about her keeping so much juice in the house. Something about her age… But he'd probably not only grab up clinic duty, but also be kicked out for that one.

Cameron handed him the juice and returned to her seat on the couch, picking up the remote and flipping on the television before plugging in her laptop, resting her feet on her coffee table, and sitting cross-legged to accommodate her computer.

"What's the point of having the TV on if you're going to be on your laptop?" House asked, watching her curiously.

"I like the background noise," she admitted. "And it helps me think when I turn on Discovery Health."

"You watch Discovery Health?"

She gave him a 'duh' look and typed in the password to her computer. "Doesn't every doctor?"

"Not every doctor has cable or satellite."

"Well, every doctor should get it then." She began to type rapidly on her computer, which drew House's attention to her again.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Talking to friends."

"…you have instant messenger services, don't you?"

"Watch what you say," she warned. "It's pretty much the only way I can keep in touch with all of my friends. It's easier than being on the phone as I can talk to more than one person at one time, and I can research while I do it."

House frowned as he studied her. "Do you ever stop working?" he asked quietly, his eyes intense as he stared her down.

She finished typing a sentence and looked up at him, her glasses making her eyes seem just a bit wider than they actually work. "I sleep sometimes," she replied, slanting her head to the side.

House smirked at her and stole the remote. "If you're playing on your computer, I'm stealing the TV."

"Fair enough," she allowed, her eyes returning to her screen. Maybe having House over wouldn't be as bad as she thought. Her phone rang and she set the computer on the coffee table to answer it.

House appeared to be thoroughly engrossed in a cartoon. But really, he was listening to her conversation. How could he not? He'd already pointed out to himself that he never promised not to snoop a bit, and he turned down the volume just a few notches to hear snippets of the conversation.

"No, Mom, I didn't… Because it isn't that important to me right now. No … no, I tried- Mother, please. Well then call Jackie about it!" Cameron yelled into the telephone. When she realized that House would be able to hear that and, eventually, ask about it, she lowered her voice again.

In the living room, House turned the TV down just a bit more.

"It's on Thursday, and I _do_ plan on going into work." She opened the fridge and slammed it shut. "Because, Mom. It was years ago and I don't think he'd want me to sit here and dwell on it every time it comes around. Yes, I realize that he's… Mother…" She sighed and slammed a cupboard.

House cringed and sank lower in the chair he'd occupied. _Note to self: Never piss of Cameron. She might break something_.

"Mother, I'm going to work on Thursday. I'm leaving work at five, and then I'm going to the cemetery. I'm not taking the day off. I'm not going to stay in that night. I don't know yet if I'm going to see Jackie or not. She hasn't called about it."

From his hunched state in the living room chair, he heard something start to sizzle in the kitchen. Was Cameron cooking? He sat up straight and sniffed the air. She _was_ cooking! He could smell vegetable oil. Grabbing up his cane, he went into the kitchen, where he saw her sautéing vegetables and chicken. To her side were two pita breads. Was she making something for him, too?

"Mom, I told you that. No memorial service, okay? No ten-year anniversary… Nothing like that." She looked at House and raised an eyebrow. "Do you need something?" she asked, and then rolled her eyes. "No, Mom, not you. My boss is staying with me."

She drizzled more vegetable oil into the pan and let out a frustrated sigh. "Because I'm sleeping with him, okay? I have hot, steamy sex with my boss every night." She grumbled and took the phone away from her ear and hung up. Embarrassed, she looked at House sideways. "So … sorry about that… Hungry?"

He blinked a few times and looked around the kitchen. "I kind of want to sample that hot and steamy sex we have every night," he deadpanned. He reached into the pan and delicately picked out a green pepper, popping it into his mouth. "Besides that … yes. I am."

Cameron shook her head and dished the mix of chicken and peppers onto the pita breads that she'd laid out. "You shouldn't have overheard that," she whispered before clearing her throat. "I'm sorry you had to hear that."

"What's on Thursday?" he asked brassily, searching the kitchen drawers for forks. Once he found them, he handed one to her.

She looked at him coldly for a moment before deflating. "The anniversary of Dean's death," she muttered as she took a bite of food. "It'll be ten years."

"Dean?"

"My husband." She poked at the food before taking it into her dining area without further explanation. She didn't want to give further explanation, really. Yes, it was still painful to remember his death. It always would be. But that didn't mean she had to or wanted to talk about it. She took a seat at her dining room table and attacked her food.

House just shrugged it off and made his way back to the living room, only to be stopped by Cameron's voice. "Don't eat in my living room. Eat in the kitchen or the dining room. I just cleaned the carpet."

He rolled his eyes and plopped his plate down on the table across from Cameron, then sat to eat. "Do you always cook when your mother calls?" he asked, sampling the fajita. It was a GOOD fajita, too. "Because if you do… I'm telling her to call you every two hours."

Cameron looked up in surprise before laughing lightly. "I … ah… No. Just when I'm upset. So I guess you should expect some decent meals for the next couple of days." She slowed down her food attack and nibbled lightly at it. "Do you shower in the morning or at night?" she asked, changing the topic completely.

He looked at her curiously and swallowed the bite he'd taken. It usually depended on how much he'd had to drink at night as to whether or not he'd wait until morning to shower. "Night," he finally answered.

"Good," she replied. "I shower in the morning after my jog."

"Aren't you usually at the hospital around nine?" he asked incredulously.

"Yeah… I wake up at about five, use the treadmill, shower off, and then eat breakfast."

He opened his mouth to make a scathing remark, but closed it almost immediately. There was no reason for him to make a comment about her jogging habits. If his leg were up to it, he'd still run every morning. Stupid fucking leg…

"Anyway, I'll put out some clean towels for you when I'm done eating." She started to cut her fajita up into little pieces. "And if you want something warm for breakfast, let me know before you go to sleep tonight so I can make it tomorrow morning."

House looked at her, surprised. "You're awfully accommodating for someone who didn't want me here more than three hours ago."

Cameron shrugged. "I don't mind making something in the morning," she explained. "And if it's something I like, well, that's all the better for me."

He was quiet for a few moments before finally looking Cameron in the eyes. "His death still bothers you that much," he stated. It wasn't a question; he knew. Cameron had said that she cooked more when she was upset. If she was blatantly offering to make him breakfast, something that was decidedly un-Cameron of her, her husband's death had to really grate her.

She held his gaze for a few seconds before she couldn't anymore. She could feel tears welling up in her eyes and she refused to cry. She hadn't cried about it for years. Why start again now? Absently, she moved the food around on her plate. "Sometimes," she allowed. It was all she would allow. She set her fork down and pushed away from the table. "I'll go get those towels."

The rest of the night passed in awkward silence. Cameron got back on her computer for about an hour before shutting it down for the night. House sat in front of the television after his shower (during which he fought back several remarks about girly items), and watched it absently. Both of them were thinking about the patient, and neither of them could help it.

Before long, House said good-night to Cameron and went to her room. Once under the covers, he took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. The entire room smelled like Cameron. It was a soft, musky scent. He ran his hand over his eyes and frowned. This was going to be a long night.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:** They're still not mine. But if they WERE, I'd be getting tutoring from all of them. Forget this studying shit. ;)

**Chapter Five**

It wasn't difficult for Cameron to wake up at five every morning. She liked doing it. It gave her energy for the day after she'd jogged and showered. There was something distinctly therapeutic about a morning jog, even if it was just on a treadmill.

Her alarm was on the coffee table and went of at precisely five A.M. She'd already been up for about five minutes, and rolled over to turn the alarm off. After stretching and popping her neck, she realized that she'd left all of her clothes in her room… Where House was currently sleeping.

No big deal. She'd just sneak right in and then sneak right out. It wasn't like she'd wake him. Mind made up, she slowly opened the door to the bedroom and quietly snuck in, going to the drawers for her jogging clothes before going to her closet for her suit for the day. She couldn't help but steal a glance at him.

Much as she wanted to be, there was no way she was over House. At least she was willing to admit that to herself. And as she stole that glance, she smiled softly. He looked … peaceful. He looked so peaceful when he was asleep. There were no angry lines on his face; his brow wasn't scrunched as he thought. He was just there, thoughtless.

Cameron bit her bottom lip and went silently to the side of the bed, pushing the covers up under his chin. They'd fallen to his waist some time during the night, and she couldn't stop herself from fixing them before leaving the room to go on with her morning routine.

She turned on her iPod, something she rarely actually used, and stuck the earphones in before turning on the treadmill and starting her morning jog. A bottle of water sat dutifully by her side. What she loved most about her morning jog was that it gave her time to think about whatever she wanted to.

Much to her chagrin, this morning's thoughts were not about the patient; they were about the man sleeping in her bed. She upped the pace on the treadmill and ran harder when she realized that she was considering _not_ changing the bed sheets just so that she could smell him before she went to sleep. How disgustingly pathetic.

What she needed was some sort of distraction. Maybe she'd call up some of her friends and take a girl's night out sometime this week. Thursday might be good… They could all go out and have fun and she wouldn't dwell on Dean's death _and_ she wouldn't have to spend the time with House. What bothered her most about the possibility of spending the evening with House wasn't that he had a chance of seeing her cry; he'd already seen that before. He knew that she had her weak moments and, usually, mocked or teased her for them. Big deal; she could handle that. Hell, it would probably make her feel better.

The thing that really got to her about the possibility of spending Thursday evening with House was that she _wouldn't_ spend it crying. Oh, no. She'd spend it finding some way to jump House. That was what she did when the anniversary of Dean's death rolled around. If there was a man around, he was game. Anything to take her mind off of Dean. Her reasoning was that Dean had told her the day he died to love again. Bad reasoning to have sex every time the anniversary rolled around, but hey … House had been right when he told her that she was damaged. Damn him for always being right.

She let out a squeal of surprise when someone tapped her on the shoulder. Quickly, she pulled the headphones out of her ears and turned around. This, incidentally, caused her to fall since she'd left the treadmill running. She slid off of the treadmill and fell with a soft _thump_ onto the ground, where she saw the butt of a cane and two feet accompanying it.

"That was graceful," House commented, smirking down at Cameron. "I particularly liked the part where your ass hit the treadmill." He picked his cane up off of the ground and extended it to hit the button that turned the treadmill off.

Cameron swiped her bangs out of her face and glared up at House. "It's not even six in the morning yet. Shouldn't you still be sleeping?"

"I woke up when someone tucked me in again."

Her face flushed in embarrassment and she rubbed her forehead. "I… You looked cold," she muttered, pushing off of the ground and grabbing the water that had been sitting in the holder on the treadmill.

"I looked cold?" he asked with a small laugh. "How does one look cold, exactly?"

"You had no shirt on and this apartment is always cool!" she defended, turning to face him. Her eyes widened slightly. "…you still don't have a shirt on."

"Yes, well, you know… I usually sleep in the nude, but I thought it might disturb you if I wandered about your apartment naked. So I ever-so-kindly brought pajama pants." He noticed that her eyes were darting up and down his body, and a self-satisfied grin settled onto his face. "Then again… Maybe you wouldn't mind it so much."

Cameron shook her head to clear it and then blinked blankly at him. "Sorry, what?" she asked dumbly.

He laughed and hobbled to the kitchen. Cameron's eyes followed him. "I'm … going to go shower," she finally said, leaving her bottled water in the holder on the treadmill.

House fought back the urge to ask her if she was informing or offering and watched as she shook her head all the way to the bathroom. So she wasn't over him. Or, at least, she was still attracted to him. And that meant that she could still re-develop feelings. Wait. Rewind. Why did he care about Cameron's feelings for him? Oh, right. Because, as Wilson was constantly reminding him, he was a lonely, angry man.

Sometimes, Wilson just pissed him off. Sure, the two of them were best friends. In all reality, Wilson was House's _only_ friend. And House didn't mind that all that much. Fewer friends meant fewer possibilities of being betrayed. The thought of betrayal put an acrid taste in his mouth… The very word reminded him of Stacy.

He heard the shower shoot on, which brought him out of his thoughts. A small frown settled on his face as he made his way around Cameron's kitchen. He wanted a glass of water. Where the hell did she keep the glasses?

Diligently, he went opened all of the cupboards until he found the glasses. After finding a glass, he dropped some ice into it and went to the sink, turning on the water to fill it. It was at that time he heard a distinct screech from the bathroom. Oops… Cameron was still in the shower. He cringed when he heard a door being thrown open.

Cameron came storming into the kitchen, her body wrapped in nothing but a towel. "What the hell are you doing!" she asked angrily. "Who the hell runs water when the shower's on in an apartment? Are you insane!"

House's face went slack and it was his turn to scan Cameron. "A little."

"I was almost done, House. You couldn't have waited one more minute for a damned glass of water? There's a Brita water jug in the fridge, for God's sake! You don't even have to use the tap!"

"I…" Cameron. Towel. Legs. God, look at those LEGS… He was a mere man, damn it all. He was bound to notice a gorgeous woman clad in nothing but a towel.

"You know, I let you stay here thinking that you wouldn't interrupt any of my morning or evening routines. Last night was fine, and early this morning was fine. But… Damn it, House! What the hell are you staring at!"

"Those gorgeous tits," he answered without hesitation.

Cameron's mouth dropped open and her hands flew to her towel. House noticed that when she blushed, it started right above those delectable breasts and rose up her neck and to her face. He stared at her unabashedly and did so until she fled back to the bathroom.

Today was going to be a long day, to be sure.

MD + MD - MD + MD - MD + MD - MD + MD - MD + MD - MD + MD - MD + MD

They had decided to ride into work together, taking Cameron's car. The ride in was thoroughly awkward, as Cameron was trying to avoid all possible conversation and House was looking everywhere but Cameron. Finally, he sighed in agitation and turned off the radio.

"This would be far less awkward if we had at least made out."

Cameron's grip on the steering wheel tightened and her jaw clenched. "House, I don't want to talk about this."

"I can't work with you if you're not going to talk to me," he pointed out rationally, tapping his cane on the floor of the car. "Remember? We sort of need you for differentials."

"I'll participate in the differentials," she replied simply, keeping her eyes glued to the road. She could drive perfectly well if she glanced at him every now and again. She simply refused to do that right now. "We never talk beyond them anyway."

"Do I detect a hint of bitterness in that statement, Dr. Cameron?"

"Don't…" she warned weakly. She didn't want to deal with this today. She didn't. Not right now. Not this _week_, for the love of God. "Just don't."

House tapped his foot and reached to turn the radio back on. Fine. He didn't want to discuss the whole thing, anyway. He just wanted to be sure that they could still work together. Cameron was too nice to kick him out now, even if she was feeling awkward around him.

Soon enough, they arrived at work, Cameron storming ahead of House all they way up to his office. Foreman and Chase turned as soon as the door to the diagnosis room flew open, both of them wearing matching grins.

"Trouble in paradise?" Chase asked after he saw the harassed look on her face.

"Shut it," Cameron snapped, dropping her bag on the floor and going over to make the coffee.

"You okay?" Foreman asked, ever playing the part of the concerned older brother.

"I'm fine," she muttered, opening the patient file to skim it again. "Any new symptoms or any changes?"

"Caitlin hasn't had any more seizures since we put her on the phenytoin and there aren't any new symptoms as of yet."

"So now she's on how many meds?" House asked as he walked into the room and to the dry erase board. "What can this be, people? Differentials."

"Wait a minute," Foreman said with an incredulous laugh, holding a hand up for House to stop. "What are you doing here before nine-thirty?"

"Sunshine over there made sure I was out of bed," he grumbled, nodding his head toward Cameron. "Now. Differentials."

"You mean she's letting you stay with her?" Chase asked, eyes wide. Was Cameron out of her mind?

"_Yes_, and we're done discussing this. _Differentials_."

"What did you do to get her to agree?" Foreman butted in, liking the fact that this bothered the hell out of House too much not to continue with it. "Offer her a raise?"

"Foreman-."

"Maybe he offered her another date," Chase replied, completely ignoring House's protests. "It got her to come back to work for him."

"Dr. Chase-."

"I've got it!" Foreman exclaimed, joining in the game with Chase. "He offered her a raise AND told her he'd take her out on a date."

House glowered and turned to Cameron. "Why aren't you stopping this?" he demanded, pointing at the two younger doctors with his cane.

"I think it's funny," she said simply, handing House his coffee cup and going to sit between her friends and coworkers at the table. She looked at the symptoms and frowned thoughtfully. "What about metabolic syndrome?" she asked suddenly. "It would account for the miscarriages because of PCOS, which also explains the missed periods."

"No insulin uptake problems. And she has type one diabetes, not type two."

Foreman piped up to agree with Cameron. "But she _does_ have diabetes, and the insulin uptake problems aren't present in every case of metabolic syndrome."

House sighed and nodded. "Chase, run some blood work and check her LDL cholesterol. Cameron, get a better patient history. I want to know where Daddy is during this whole thing. Foreman, you're with me. We're breaking into a house to check for some environmental possibilities."

"Hold on a minute," Foreman protested. "Caitlin is sick, but her mother isn't and neither is her husband. If there is an environmental link, it's not going to be at either home."

House rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine. Chase, run the blood work. Cameron, get the history. Foreman, go find out where the hell the girl works and run over there like a good little ducky and snoop around. Clear?"

His ducklings all exchanged a look and went off to do their jobs. Thank the heavens. House went back into his office to look up some possible links between the symptoms. It wasn't long before Cuddy was in his office. He looked up and glared at her. "I was in on time today. I was even _early_. Well … for me."

Cuddy smiled and sat down in one of the chairs adjacent to his desk. "I'm not here to yell at you, which has to be a first. Wilson tells me you're staying with Cameron."

"Does he tell you everything?" he asked, annoyed. "I promise we're not doing anything naughty, Mommy," he replied with a roll of his eyes, returning his attention to his computer. "Well … besides that thing she did what that strip pole. But that was nothing!"

His boss didn't look one bit miffed by his snark, which bothered him. If he couldn't piss off Cuddy, something was going horribly wrong in his life.

"Did the two of you get along?" she prodded, trying to contain her own excitement. Who cared if Cameron was House's employee? She was the only woman Cuddy could ever see him being happy with. She'd overlook the boss-employee deal if only because Cameron could probably keep House on track.

"Not at first, but we DID have some rather steamy make-up sex," he replied with a waggle of his eyebrows.

Cuddy, however, was not deterred. "I'm trying to be serious, House."

House pushed away from his computer with a dramatic sigh. "I fail to see how it's any of your business, Dr. Cuddy."

"Only looking out for you, Dr. House," she sparred. "You didn't upset her too much, did you?"

House threw his hands in the air in exasperation. "Why is it every time _anything_ happens that involves me and Cameron in the same room, everyone assumes that I intentionally upset her? Sure, I do it on occasion, but it's not an ever-recurring theme."

"You're _House_. You snark, you manipulate, and you always come out the victor. I want to know what's going on."

"I think I explained this yesterday," he said slowly, speaking as though Cuddy were no more than two years old. "There were cock-y-roaches in my sink. The nice, big, roach-killer man told me to sleep at a friend's house until he got rid of the mean, nasty cock-y-roaches."

"House…"

"Go ask Cameron," he snapped. "She'll spill the beans to anyone who asks. It's what she _does_."

Cuddy stood and smoothed her skirt. "Fine," she said, her smile still firmly in place. "I will. I think a little lunch between us is in order anyway… We're the only two women who can stand to be anywhere near you."

"Oh, that was sweet."

"I'm like sugar."

"Wilson tell you that? I hear he's looking for a new wife, if you're interested." House's eyes lit up and he smiled widely. "Hey! You're even Jewish, too! It's like a match made in Heaven! Oh, wait… Do you people believe in Heaven?"

"Cute." With her cheery demeanor thoroughly dampened, Cuddy walked out of House's office. She was definitely going to be taking Dr. Cameron out to lunch, though… After all, it was part of the plan.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer:** They still aren't mine, since I can't buy them or anything. Now, I MAY have kidnapped them at one point in time, but no one can prove it!

**Chapter Six**

"Dr. Cameron!" Cuddy called out, chasing after the younger doctor as she made her way to the cafeteria.

Cameron stopped and waited for Cuddy to catch up to her, a small nervous feeling settling into her stomach. She hadn't done anything … had she? No, she hadn't. Oh, God, was Cuddy going to yell at her for letting House stay? "Yes, Dr. Cuddy?"

Once she caught up, Cuddy gave Cameron a smile. "Heading to lunch?" When Cameron nodded in affirmation, Cuddy walked alongside her. "Mind if I join you?"

"Uh… No, I don't mind." _Weird_, Cameron thought. _Does Cuddy ever eat lunch with any of her employees?_

They walked in what was a surprisingly companionable silence almost all the way to the cafeteria, where they saw Wilson standing in line. He waved to the two of them and they joined him. "Cuddy," he acknowledged with a nod. "Cameron," he said with a smile. "How are your mornings so far?"

"I got to talk to House this morning," Cuddy replied with a roll of her eyes. "How do you_ think_ my morning went?"

Wilson laughed as he placed a salad on his plate. "You think you've got it bad? Cameron's letting him stay with her. She had to deal with him all last night and this morning."

Cuddy looked at Cameron in surprise. "You didn't make him sleep on a couch here?"

"No… It didn't seem fair," she muttered, grabbing up her own salad. For some reason, she always felt like a child around Cuddy. Probably because Cuddy was the epitome of the powerful business woman; she was intimidating, to be sure. But Cameron cleared her throat and stood her ground. "Besides, it wasn't that horrible. He stayed out of my way. _And_ I got him to swear not to mock me."

Wilson gave Cameron a look of surprise; Cuddy gave one of admiration. "How the hell did you manage that?" Cuddy asked.

Cameron laughed. "I told him that if he mocked me, he had to take two weeks of my clinic duty. He either took the deal or slept on a couch here at the hospital."

"That's crueler than making him stay here," Wilson said approvingly. "I like it."

"You like it?" Cuddy asked, smirking. "I love it. It's almost like seeing him put in his place. Except better."

"How is it better?" Cameron frowned as she decided between chicken and roast beef. "I mean … I can understand wanting to see him put in his place." She scoffed. "Believe me. But I hardly see how it's better than that."

"It's because it's you," Wilson replied with a shrug. "He does nothing but complain about how you're too nice. You're too motherly. You're always too something that no one else complains about. I swear … he comes up with new things to complain about every day."

Cameron flushed and prodded her food. "Didn't realize I bothered him that much," she muttered.

"I don't think you actually do," Cuddy piped up, paying for her lunch. "This is what House _does_. He did it with Stacy before they got together. Everything was wrong with her."

"Until he slept with her," Wilson added with a small snort, paying for his lunch and throwing in enough to pay for Cameron's, as well. "Then there were only a few things wrong with her."

"What happened with them, anyway?" Cameron asked hesitantly, thanking Wilson for paying for her lunch. She didn't want to prod too much, knowing that Wilson was House's best friend, and getting him to talk about House's past was like getting rid of the smell of cat pee; it wasn't going to happen.

"I'm not even completely sure," he answered honestly, leading the way to an empty table for the three of them to sit at. "All I know is that they had a falling out. It's stressful being with someone who's trying to heal," he said gently. "You know that."

"Yeah…" Cameron answered. "But I stayed by his side." She sat down across from Wilson and Cuddy sat next to her.

"That's how you're different from Stacy," Cuddy offered. "You stayed by your husband's side through thick and thin. Stacy didn't." She mixed her salad with some dressing and took a small bite.

"You have to give her _some_ credit, though," Wilson defended. "She tried to stick by him. House is stubborn and prideful; he didn't want anyone around to see him that weak."

"So she just gave up?" Cameron asked hotly. She couldn't help it! Dean was always telling her to leave. Not just leave him alone, but leave the marriage altogether. He didn't want her to see him at his worst. But she refused to go. She stayed there and watched him die, whether he wanted her to or not. Maybe it was because she knew he needed her… Something he finally admitted a week or so before he died.

"I wouldn't call it giving up…" Wilson started.

"I would," Cuddy interrupted. "It's what she did. She gave up. If she would have pushed a little harder or gone one step further, House would have caved eventually."

"I can't imagine House caving for anyone, honestly." Cameron cut up her chicken and took a bite. "Besides, she came back and then left him again, didn't she? It wasn't a one-time thing."

"She's married!" Wilson exclaimed with a small, disbelieving match. "Did everyone expect her to leave her husband?"

"Well she'd left an injured and misdiagnosed man before," Cuddy snapped. "Why would we think that she wouldn't do it again? Plus, we all know that she slept with House while she was here. She did the same thing she'd done before. It was a beautiful repeat performance."

Cameron stared at Cuddy in shock. She'd _never_ heard the Dean of Medicine speak this way about anyone. Well … except for when she was thoroughly upset with House. But that was different; especially since she usually got over it within a day. Slowly, Cameron came to an important realization. Cuddy cared about House. Not just House as a doctor and employee, but as a person; a friend. Why hadn't she noticed it before?

"You in there, Cameron?" Wilson asked, concerned.

"Yeah. Sorry." Cameron shook herself out of her thoughts and gave the two of them a small smile. "I got lost for a minute there."

Cuddy grinned and picked at her salad. "Thinking about House?"

"No!" Cameron exclaimed defensively. Wilson laughed, and she sighed. "A little," she mumbled. "I can't help but think that someone really could…" She flushed and shook her head. "Never mind."

"Oh, come on," Cuddy prodded. "You're sitting with the cool kids at lunch. You can tell us."

Cameron laughed and pushed her food around on her plate before finally taking a healthy bite. "He hit the nail on the head when he claimed that I think I can fix him," she admitted with a shrug. "I guess I really do."

Wilson smiled at Cuddy. This was it. Cuddy took up the bait.

"You know, Dr. Cameron, I think you could, too," Cuddy said quietly, her tone rather conspiratorial. "You're the only woman he knows that's stubborn enough to stick with him."

Wilson chewed thoughtfully before pointing his fork at Cameron. "You know, Cuddy has a point. If you can manage to thicken your skin a bit, I think you could take him. No offense or anything," he added quickly. "But you _are_ sort of the epitome of niceness."

"I think that's what House needs," Cuddy argued rationally. "He's Mr. Ass, she's Miss Nice. Opposites attract."

"You two are forgetting one very important fact: House can't stand me," Cameron stated simply. "He thinks I'm too young, too inexperienced, too naïve, and finds me annoying."

"He thinks you're too nice, too," Wilson offered.

"And he doesn't like that you don't always stick to your guns when it comes to diagnosing patients," Cuddy added helpfully.

Cameron frowned. "How do you two know all of this? I mean, I know Wilson's his friend, but you, Cuddy…"

Cuddy smiled mysteriously. "I know all."

The younger doctor laughed and polished off her lunch. "Well, I need to get back to work. Thanks for an interesting lunch, to say the least."

Wilson and Cuddy waved goodbye to Cameron and waited until she was out of earshot to continue their conversation.

"Think she took the bait?" Wilson asked with a smile.

"Definitely. I'm glad we made this bet, James. I think I'm going to win."

"Looks like I better start saving for an expensive dinner, then." He finished off his own lunch and winked at Cuddy. "Though seeing House happy again would be worth it. Well … as happy as House is able to be."

MD + MD – MD + MD – MD + MD – MD + MD – MD + MD – MD + MD – MD + MD

At promptly six that evening, Cameron stopped in House's office. "Caitlin's holding up. She's complaining of abdominal pain, but that's a side effect of the meds we put her on. Chase is staying overnight to keep observation. If you're ready to go, we can. If not, Wilson said he'll give you a ride to my place."

House nodded. His eyes were riveted on his computer screen, and he hadn't paid much attention to the news that Cameron had just reported. "Make sure someone stays to keep observation," he muttered, scrolling down on a webpage.

"I just said…" She frowned and stood behind him, looking at the page he had up on his screen. "Subacute Brucellosis?" she asked. "Caitlin doesn't fit these symptoms."

"Yet," he replied immediately. "She doesn't fit these symptoms _yet_."

"House, she isn't showing any-"

"She didn't have any seizures before being admitted, either." He spun his chair away from his computer to face Cameron. "By tomorrow afternoon, she'll be sweating profusely and complaining that she's cold. She'll have a fever over 102. And she'll tell us that she had some beef dish cooked rare that she-"

"She doesn't eat beef," Cameron interjected, crossing her arms over her chest. "Caitlin and her husband are both vegetarians."

"So she cheated."

"Vegetarians don't cheat!" Cameron exclaimed with a small, disbelieving laugh. "If you go so long without eating beef, then the next time you ingest it, you'll-."

"Get very, very ill. Yeah. I know. I'm a doctor, too. I even got a cool lab coat! I don't use it, though… It intimidates the patients."

Cameron rolled her eyes. "You never even _see_ the patients to intimidate them."

"That isn't the point. The _point_ here is that this girl has Subacute Brucellosis."

"She can't have that, House!"

"How many times am I _ever_ wrong when it comes to diagnosing a patient?"

"Do you want an exact number or a ballpark measure?" she shot back angrily. "Every time we get a patient, you treat them for something you think that they might have. Every time you do that, you come so close to killing them that it's scary."

"And yet, you and the other two ducklings still run to do my bidding!" House exclaimed, picking up his cane and standing. He hovered over Cameron and stared down at her intensely. "So if you have a problem with how I treat my patients, I suggest you start acting like a doctor and stopping me from screwing up. Assuming that I screw up. How does that sound?"

"It sounds like an overly-arrogant man trying to act like it's okay to have the absolute trust of his employees and then abuse that trust."

"You mean, it isn't! Damn … I knew I missed a memo somewhere…"

"Don't you care that you might be killing them? You almost died due to an incorrect diagnosis. Why aren't you concerned that you might be misdiagnosing a patient and condemning them to the same fate that you had?"

The room went silent as House and Cameron stared each other down. Cameron's breathing was quick due to anger and, now, fear. Dear God, she'd just brought up something no one had the right to bring up. How would she feel if someone waved Dean's death in her face like she'd just waved House's handicap in his? She'd hate them for it. But she refused to step down from this… After all, Wilson told her to thicken her skin a bit.

House, on the other hand, was calm. Too calm. He stared down at Cameron with one thought running through his mind: he either wanted to kill this girl or kiss her. No one brought up his leg. Hell, _Wilson_ never even brought up his leg. So Cameron was either very brave or extremely stupid for bringing it up. He just had to decide which before he lost his temper and yelled, really _yelled_, for her to get the hell out of his office. But right now, he'd stare her down. Glare at her. Wait for her to apologize, just like he knew she ultimately would. It was Cameron… She always said she was sorry, even if she had nothing to be sorry for.

But that expected apology never came. Cameron stood her ground, hands balled into nervous fists at her side. House tipped his cane upside down and hooked it around her ankle, causing her to stumble right into him. She gasped and grabbed hold of his shirt, which made him wrap an arm around her waist to keep himself steady.

Without hesitation, he brought his lips down to hers. Both of their eyes were open, hers wide and his narrowed. They never really stood on even ground, did they?

House tightened his grip on Cameron's waist and pulled her against him, careful to keep his bad leg back. He ran his tongue along her lips, waiting for her to open to him. He wouldn't force his way in; he didn't believe he'd have to.

Ever so hesitantly, Cameron opened her mouth to him and her eyes slid closed. Her grip on his shirt tightened and she let herself fall into the kiss. She couldn't fight this. There were no questions in her mind … she couldn't remember what she'd said. This was House… House was kissing her. And damn, but House was a good kisser.

He pulled his face away from hers and stared down at her once more. She looked dazed. Good. "I want an apology."

She blinked, confused, before focusing on what had happened before he'd kissed her. "No," she replied softly.

"I'm not kidding."

"I'm not sorry."

"Maybe not…" he muttered, searching her face. "But you're nervous. You aren't sorry that you thought it, but you're sorry that you said it." He was right. He knew he was right. He was _always_ right.

"I'm not apologizing."

"But you _are_ sorry."

She backed away from him and frowned. "I'm not deigning to answer that," she replied with a shake of her head. "I'm going home. Are you coming?"

"You're still letting me stay even though you're pissed off at me right now?" he asked, laughing incredulously. "You _are_ damaged, Cameron. Maybe as damaged as I am."

"I'm not," she protested heatedly. "Just because I can put aside a nasty argument doesn't mean that I'm damaged. It just means that I can forgive."

"And forget, too? Saint Allison Cameron!"

"I never said…" She sighed and ran her hands over her face. "Just… I don't want to do this, House. I don't want to argue with you right now!"

"Well too damn bad!" he exclaimed. "You _started_ it. Now _finish_ it!"

"Fine!" Cameron finally exploded. "I'm not apologizing for finally telling you the truth! You _are_ too arrogant for your own good and it's going to cause patients to die. Not the normal deaths that doctors deal with, but deaths that are avoidable. And, sure! I'm damaged. Does that make you happy, House? I'm just as damaged as you are. The only difference between us is that I can deal with it and you can't. Now, I'm going home!"

House stood, stunned. "You just told me off." He paused, looked around his office, and then grabbed up his bag. "I need a ride, too, you know."

Cameron's stormy demeanor stopped and she stared blankly at House. Was he _ever_ predictable? "Maybe I don't want you staying with me anymore."

"Maybe… Is that the case?"

She sighed and her shoulders slumped slightly. "Let me get my bag," she muttered. "We'll stop somewhere on the way back and get dinner."

MD + MD – MD + MD – MD + MD – MD + MD – MD + MD – MD + MD – MD + MD

Once they'd returned to Cameron's apartment, the air between them was tense, to say the least. Cameron was trying not to dwell on the kiss, and House was trying not to dwell on doing it again.

_This_ was the problem with being in a close proximity to Allison Cameron. She annoyed the ever-loving hell out of him most of the time. She was naïve, young, too hopeful for her own good… She thought she could save the world. More importantly, she thought that she could save HIM, and he knew that was never going to happen. If anything, she only caused more complications for him. Asking to stay with her had been a mistake.

Cameron set down the takeout that they'd picked up on the kitchen counter and got out two plates, dishing the food out and setting it on the dining table before going over to her answering machine to check her messages. Anything to keep her occupied and away from House.

There were four messages, and Cameron hit play.

"Hey, Ally, this is Jackie. Um… I know you're busy, sweetie, so I promise the message won't be long. I just wanted to know if you're planning on coming by the cemetery on Thursday. Call me back, Ally. We'll go together and get some dinner."

_Beep._

"Ally! It's Adam! Mom says I can come over and play games with you!" In the background a woman yelled that there was to be no _Resident Evil_. "But Mom says that I can't play _Resident Evil_ because it makes you jump. She's always like that. But can I? Friday night? Please? Oh! I gotta go! Angie's here to take me to get school clothes!"

Cameron laughed. _Beep._

"Allison… It's Joe. I … was hoping you-"

Cameron hit the delete button without hearing the rest of the message. She didn't want to hear from Joe. Ever again. _Beep._

"Hello, Allison, this is Dr. Kelleher's office calling to confirm your dental cleaning, scheduled for Monday, the thirteenth. Please call to confirm. Thank you."

_Beep._ With a small sigh, Cameron went to the table and started to eat her dinner, making a mental note to call the dentist's office tomorrow morning from work. She avoided House's gaze like the plague. If he had a question, he could ask, damn it. It didn't mean she'd answer… But he could ask all the same.

Finally, House's curiosity could wait no longer. "How old is your brother?"

"Almost seventeen. I'm the oldest," she explained before he could ask.

"Are you going to let him over?"

"I was planning on it," she answered, casting him a sideways glance. "Unless you have a problem with that… I _am_ letting you stay here, after all. You should have a say."

"You never cease to amaze me. If any of your niceness rubs off on me by the end of my stay here, I'm suing." He paused and ate a bit of dinner. "I don't care. I can work if you'll let me use your laptop."

Cameron nodded in agreement, letting his comment about her niceness slide. She didn't want to get into another argument with him, especially if it meant that there would be another kiss like the one back in the office. Why had he kissed her? It didn't make sense!

"House…"

"Present."

She sighed and twirled her spaghetti noodle around her fork, focusing intently on it so as to avoid his eyes. Those amazing blue eyes that drew her in every time she looked into them. "At the office… Why did you kiss me?" she asked softly.

"If I answer that, it's not going to be what you would consider a satisfactory answer," he replied harshly. "So I'm not going to answer it. Instead, I'm going to finish my dinner, then go into the living room and watch TV. Then, after I'm tired of that, I'll shower and go to bed."

"I don't want your schedule for the night," she replied, exasperated. "I want to know what possessed you to kiss me!"

He waited until she looked at him to catch her eyes as he answered. "I told you that things would be much less awkward if we'd just made out."

She glared at him. "You are the most arrogant-."

"We already had that argument. If you're going to argue with me, make it a nice, new, improved one. Ooh! Try arguing about patients again. I like that."

"You're worse than a child," she snapped distastefully, storming into the kitchen and getting herself a glass of soy milk. "Do you want anything?" she yelled from her current spot, even though it wasn't far enough from the table to warrant yelling.

House smirked. He was pissing her off. Good. He liked her better when she was being a bitch. "I could use a glass of water," he replied, setting his fork down and leaning back in his chair. This was just too much fun. If he had known that kissing Cameron would cause her to get pissed off, he would have done it sooner. For some odd reason, he thoroughly enjoyed pissing her off. It… He frowned thoughtfully and glared at his food.

It made him want to be around her, knowing that he could upset her. If he could make her that passionate about something dull, what could he do with her in bed?

Stop. That was not the place his thoughts needed to go. It was absurd to even consider sleeping with her. She was too young, too nice, too … _everything_. She was too good for him, he admitted to himself angrily. Allison Cameron was too good for him. If Wilson didn't cheat on every woman he ever dated, he'd send Cameron to the oncologist for a date.

All too soon, a glass of water was slammed down in front of him, landing a droplet or two on his arm. Quickly, he reached out and grabbed Cameron's wrist before she could escape. He pulled her close again, but was not intending to kiss her this time. "I kissed you because I wanted to," he told her, his voice laced with quiet intensity. "I do what I want to do when I want to do it."

"And what if I did that?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"If you did that…" His eyes dropped to where he held her wrist, and his thumb gently caressed the inside of her wrist. "… we'd be in a lot of trouble."


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** If I owned them, I'd be a much happier and wealthier person. But since I don't ... I'm only moderately happy and so po' I can't afford the other 'o' and the 'r.'

**Chapter Seven**

Cameron's alarm didn't go off at five the next morning. Not because she hadn't wanted it to, but because she forgot to set it. And who could blame her? House had managed to thoroughly confuse her the night before.

Fortunately for her, the pain in House's leg woke him up around six, and he grumbled and got out of bed, limping slowly toward the coat rack near the door, where he'd left his jacket and, unfortunately, his pills. But on his way down the hallway, he frowned. He didn't hear the dull thumping of feet against a treadmill. The shower wasn't running. The television wasn't even on. Was Cameron even here?

Once in the living room, his eyes moved slowly over the scene before him. On the couch was Cameron, her arm folded beneath her head for a pillow. Apparently, she'd tossed and turned all night, as her pillows were on the floor and her blanket was wrapped around her, every-which-way. Her brows were furrowed even in sleep, and she appeared distressed. This, of course, only made him even more right about her being damaged, if that was possible. Who was upset even in sleep?

He got to his coat and reached in for his pills, dry swallowing two before looking around the room again. There was no way in hell he was making it back to the bedroom. So, with a cringe, he made his way to one of the chairs and sat slowly. There was nothing to put his leg up on, though… The ottoman was at the other chair.

With a soft whimper, he pushed himself out of the chair he was in and slowly made his way to the other chair. He was halfway there when his leg gave out completely, and he fell with a sickening _thud_ right in front of the couch.

Cameron was awake in an instant, sitting up in her tangle of covers and searching the apartment quickly. When her eyes finally settled on House, she frowned in concern. "What happened?" she asked, her voice husky from sleep.

"Nothing," he ground out, trying to push himself off of the floor, but only succeeding in sending shooting pains through his body.

"Your leg," she whispered. She kicked her covers off of her and was at his side in an instant.

"Cameron, don't-"

"Just shut up and let me take care of you," she snapped. "Did it just give out on you? Is that what happened?"

House glared at her for a few moments before finally giving a curt nod. He drew in a sharp, worried breath when she laid her hands on his thigh and slowly began rubbing the tension out of it. It wasn't painful to have someone put pressure on it; it was just thoroughly uncomfortable until all of the tension was worked out. And God, but Cameron was doing one hell of a job. "Where did you learn this?" he asked, his teeth clenched as another wave of pain shot through.

"Relax it," Cameron ordered, continuing on with her task. "My dad's a massage therapist. I used to get pretty bad tension headaches until he told me how to get rid of them myself. I guess it just … stuck. Working out tension in any muscle is the same process; you just have to vary how gentle you are on it." A few more minutes of massaging his leg passed, and she sat back on her heels. "Feel any better?"

He nodded silently, but stayed right where he was. Cameron was one hell of an enigma, he'd give her that. "It's past five," he blurted suddenly, desperate to change the subject off of his leg.

"It is…?" Cameron looked back at her alarm clock and frowned. "I forgot to set the alarm," she muttered, glaring at the clock. "I never forget to set the alarm."

"Liar," House responded with a small smirk. "You've obviously forgotten to set it."

She gave a small laugh and ran her hand over her face. "You're so annoying," she said lightly, and pushed herself up off of the floor to sit on the couch. She gave a yawn and grabbed a blanket, covering up again.

"You're going back to sleep?" House asked incredulously. "Here I was, thinking you just woke up in the morning with a recharged battery…"

"I'm just getting comfortable," she replied, resisting the urge to stick her tongue out at him. "I can't fit in my jog this morning." She glanced at the kitchen. "You want some breakfast?"

"It's six in the morning, Cameron. Who the hell eats this early?"

"I do." She shrugged and snuggled underneath the covers. "Are you going to stay on the floor all morning?"

"Maybe," he responded, setting his arms behind him and leaning back on them. "It's a damned comfortable floor." Was he … _flirting_ with Cameron? What the hell?

She let out a snort of laughter. "Well, then. You have fun on the floor. I'm going to shower in a few minutes, and then make breakfast. So think about something you might want."

"What if I said steak and eggs?"

"I'd tell you that I don't eat red meat. It's bad for you," she sparred.

"How about … a ham and cheese omelet?"

"Omelets I can do." She glanced at the clock and tossed the covers to the side before standing and stretching. "I'll make them after I shower."

House made a noncommittal noise and watched Cameron stretch. The tiny shirt she wore to sleep in rode up just enough for him to catch a glance of her navel, and her pajama pants rode low on her hips. Her hair wasn't messy, but sleep-ravaged. And it made him want to jump in the shower with her. He didn't mind admitting to himself that Cameron was one hell of a sexy woman. But he'd be damned if he'd admit feelings beyond that.

Cameron went into her bedroom to grab clothes before going into the bathroom and shutting the door behind her. Today was Wednesday. Tomorrow was _the day_. She leaned on the bathroom sink, looking into the mirror with a small sigh. Maybe she'd ask Foreman and Chase if they wanted to go out and get drinks. She'd tried to get a hold of some friends, but everyone was busy. No one had time to drop everything at a moment's notice, and she fully understood that. After all, she was the only one in her group of friends that was unmarried and childless. Wonderful.

She turned on the shower and stripped out of her clothes, tossing them into the corner. As she waited for the shower water to heat up, she laid out her clothes for the day on the towel rack. After that was done, she stepped into the shower and let the warm water run over her with a sigh of relief. She sincerely hoped that House could return to his apartment soon; she didn't know how much more of the couch she could take.

Just as she was putting shampoo into her hair, there was a pounding on the door. She sighed and hung her head. "What, House?" she called tiredly.

"Well, I'm either pounding just to bother the hell out of you or I need to use the bathroom," House's snark came through the door.

Now, Cameron figured she had two choices. The first was to be a bitch and tell him to wait, and then take twenty extra minutes. The second was to stun the hell out of him. She went with the second. "Then come in here and use it," she called back. "I have a shower curtain for a reason."

There were a few seconds of silence before the door slowly opened. "You're bold," House said with a smirk, going to the toilet. "I expected you to tell me to wait. Or that you'd get out of the shower long enough for me to use the bathroom."

"House, I'm not a total bitch." Even though she might have considered being one. "And I'm not so nice that I'd give up my morning shower just so you could pee." She rinsed the shampoo out of her hair and lathered it again.

"Am I allowed to wash my hands, or will you wrap yourself in a towel and scream at me again?"

She snorted and stepped away from the spray, far enough back so that the curtain would cover her. "Stick your hands in and wash them in the shower spray."

"Innovative," he muttered, lathering his hands with soap and then sticking them inside the shower curtain. "Cameron, I can't see to-" He stopped speaking when she took hold of his hands and put them in the spray of the shower. With a smirk, he rubbed his hands together slowly to wash them off before shaking them and drawing them out of the shower. "Thank you."

"No problem," came her soft response. She'd watched his hands. She couldn't help it! They were _really_ nice hands. And she'd had a strange fascination with them ever since Wilson had told her that he played the piano. The door shut and Cameron let out a sigh. This wasn't turning out to be all that good for her.

Once she'd finished with her shower and dried off, she wrapped her hair up in a towel so that she could put her clothes on without getting them wet. She walked into the living room with her hair wrapped, where House quirked an eyebrow at her.

"Nice turban," he remarked. He was lounging on the couch with his leg up, and Cameron was relatively certain that she'd never seen anything so amazingly sexy.

"If I don't wrap my hair in a turban, men might covet me," she replied dryly. "And we just don't want that."

She had on her normal work attire, except for her shoes. She was walking around her apartment bare-footed, which was something House found amusing and intriguing. Here was a woman who was the epitome of professionalism for the most part, walking around her apartment in her cute little professional suit, wearing no shoes or socks. It was … endearing.

"You wanted ham and cheese, right?" she called from the kitchen.

His eyebrows went up and he grinned. "Yeah."

Things were quiet for a while after that as Cameron cooked breakfast and House went into her room to get dressed. Although this was only his second morning in her home, it was feeling routine to grab something out of his bag next to her drawers and dress in her room, then go to the kitchen for breakfast. And he didn't like it one bit that he didn't mind the routine. Wait until Wilson heard about that.

It wasn't long before House heard Cameron setting a plate on the table. "Breakfast's ready," she told him with a small smile before going back into the kitchen to get her own. He was at the table when she returned, and he gave her a look that clearly said he thought she was crazy.

"You're eating fruit?" he asked, glancing at her bowl of fruit and then looking at his own breakfast. "Why not make an omelet for yourself, too?"

"I didn't want one," she answered simply, then shrugged before dipping a piece of fruit into yogurt and eating it.

"But you made me one anyway," he stated suspiciously.

"I told you. I cook when I feel upset. I don't care who it's _for_; what matters is that I'm cooking." She licked her lips to nab some yogurt off of them before continuing on with her breakfast.

House stared at her lips intensely before sneering and eating his own breakfast. Those exterminators better call him damned soon so that he could get away from her.

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The first half of the workday progressed in a boring manner, with their patient not backtracking, but not making any progress, either. And House had a sneaking suspicion that C-girl's stomach ache wasn't from the medication at all, but was another symptom.

He made his way to the clinic with a scowl on his face. Forget clinic duty. He had so many more important things to do. Like figure out what the hell C-girl had. Or harassing Wilson. Or Chase. Maybe even Cameron just to piss her off again. He refused to harass Foreman, though. He was just no fun. Maybe he could find Cuddy on his way down to the clinic…

"Dr. House!"

There she was! House turned and smirked at the sight of Cuddy. "Why, Dr. Cuddy! I haven't heard you scream my name like that for weeks. Missing me?"

Cuddy rolled her eyes and handed House a file folder. "Wilson wants you to take a look at this. And I'd like to see you in my office when you've finished."

"But, Dr. Cuddy! I have clinic duty! Are you telling me to skip?" he asked dramatically. "I simply couldn't!"

"House, look at the file and then meet me in my office. I'll even give you an hour off of clinic."

"A whole hour! You're my savior!" He leaned against the nurse's station and opened the file, skimming through it. His brow furrowed as he read the information presented to him. Fifty year old patient, in complete remission of testicular cancer. No more cancerous symptoms had presented themselves, but there were a slew of others that the patient was complaining about. He'd be showing this to his team, no questions asked.

He slapped the file shut and went to Cuddy's office. He stuck his head in. "You asked to see me, Mas'sa?" he asked after being sure Foreman was nowhere in the hearing vicinity.

"Cute, House. Get in here." Cuddy finished shifting a few files on her desk and then crossed her hands, setting them on her desk and waiting for House to sit. Once he was sitting across from her, she smiled. "Wilson caught you doing something last night that you probably shouldn't have been doing."

House's stomach dropped. Wilson had seen him kissing Cameron and gone running to Cuddy? That was something _Chase_ would do, not Wilson. But he put on his poker face and looked around the office conspiratorially. "If this is about that odd moving motion my arm was doing under my desk, it really isn't what you think."

Cuddy rolled her eyes and let out a small sigh. "You were annoying the psych patients again," she said with a frown. "What have I told you about fighting with the paranoid schizophrenics?"

House snorted. "C'mon. It's fun. We hang out. We're all buds like that."

"House, I'm serious. Dr. Corvin was _extremely_ upset when one of his patients asked him if it was really okay to drink dish soap and if it really DID taste like blueberries. You're worse than a child."

"You know, you're the second person in two days who's told me that. Will I set a record if I get Wilson to say it, too?"

"No… You'd need Foreman and Chase to say it to set a record. I'm pretty sure yours stands at four people in two days." Cuddy sat back in her chair and let her arms rest on the sides of it. "Besides bothering the psych patients, have you been doing anything else you shouldn't?" she asked flatly. "I'd like to know because that way, I can just yell at you for it now and be done with it."

"Oh, ye of little faith," House sighed, tapping his cane impatiently on the ground. "I haven't done anything else I'm not supposed to, Mommy. I promise. But if I had … would you get me a priest so I could confess before running to you with it?"

"House, if I got you a priest, you wouldn't be confessing to him. And if you were, it would be on your knees."

"Ooh, that was nice," he said, applauding. "You're just so damn good to me, Cuddy. Makes me want to … spank you or something."

Cuddy finally laughed and threw a pencil at him. "Get back to work," she told him lightly. "Go play nicely with the people in the clinic."

House sighed and stood, tapping his new patient file against his leg. "If I had wild sex with you, would I still have to do clinic duty?"

"Since you can't pin me against the wall, yes."

"Low."

"Usually. Now out!" she shooed him away. "Go put in three hours at the clinic."

House hung his head and dragged his … well … foot as he walked out of her office. He went to the clinic and saw the waiting room filled with patients. Instantly, he popped two Vicodin and set the new patient file on the nurse's station, telling them to take it to his office before picking up a clinic file. A nosebleed? He groaned and called the patient forward.

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Cameron sat by Caitlin's bedside and asked more questions concerning the woman's father. She wasn't getting very far and had the sneaking suspicion that the woman and her mother were lying through their teeth when they answered her questions.

"I know this isn't the greatest time to answer these questions, but we need to know to be able to diagnose you," Cameron said gently.

"So you still don't know what it is?" Caitlin asked, looking and feeling quite distressed.

"I'm afraid not. Without further information, we can't really do much other than put you on medication to stop the seizures." She tapped her pen lightly on her paper. "Now … we need to know if your father had any sort of diseases or problems similar to yours."

"We already told you that he didn't," Caitlin's mother snapped irritably. "I don't know why you keep asking."

Cameron set her pad of paper and pen down on the serving tray and leaned on it lightly. "Without further information, there is nothing we can do for your daughter. We can't diagnose her. None of the symptoms fit a particular diagnosis. We don't even know if she's dying or not. What we need from you is concrete information on the father so that we can see if there's a genetic link. I know it's distressing and I understand that it's upsetting to hear these questions constantly, but until we get a better answer, we have to continue asking."

Caitlin's mother frowned and tapped her foot angrily on the floor. "He would get really bad stomach aches after eating pasta, usually. But he had an ulcer."

Cameron's brow furrowed. Eating pasta shouldn't cause an ulcer upset… Hmm… "Well … we'll see what we can find. In the meantime, I'd sug-."

"I feel sick," Caitlin announced suddenly. "My stomach's all … it feel's like it's grinding or something," she moaned.

Cameron frowned. "We'll schedule you for an endoscopy to check for an ulcer right away," she said, writing the information on the chart. "If you need anything, don't forget to press that call button." She pointed to the button before leaving the room and going back to the diagnostics room.

The stomach pain was a symptom. It wasn't just a side effect of the medications. Once in the room, she went to the board and wrote _stomach pain_ and looked over all of the symptoms once more. It didn't make any sense! None of it made any sense. But what if…?

She went quickly to House's office and frowned at not seeing him there. Was he actually doing his clinic duty? With a small shrug, she left him a note saying that they should alter and supervise Caitlin's diet before going back into the diagnostics room and being met with Foreman and Chase, who were back from lunch.

"Hey, guys."

"Hey, Cameron," Foreman replied, nodding to the dry-erase board. "I thought the stomach pain was a side effect of the meds."

"I don't think so," she responded with a shake of her head. "She said it was a grinding pain, like an ulcer. And apparently, her father had one. I don't think it _is_ one, but I'm scheduling her for an endoscopy just to be sure."

"Good idea," Chase put in, looking over the symptoms and chewing on the tip of his straw. "You know, I remember seeing a case similar to this in med school. I just can't remember what it was. I've been trying to remember since she started complaining of the stomach pain."

Cameron frowned and plopped into a chair. "There isn't much we can do until she shows more symptoms and we can put it together. I left House a note. I think we need to monitor her diet for a while and see if it's diet-related."

Foreman nodded and sat down next to her. "It's all we can do for now." He settled a brotherly hand on her back and looked at her, concerned. "You holding up okay?"

"Yeah," she said with a small smile. "But I was thinking… Do you guys want to go out for drinks tomorrow night? I don't want to spend it back at my apartment with House."

Chase smiled and nodded. "Sounds good to me. You up for it, Foreman?"

"Wouldn't miss it for anything. You guys don't mind if I bring my girlfriend, I take it?"

"Oh, bring her right along," Cameron answered with a shrug. "The more the merrier, anyway."

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Wilson was meeting with Cuddy in her office. It had become a normal thing lately for the two of them to meet, if only to talk for a little while and take a break. They'd laugh, converse, and connect. Especially when it came to plotting.

"How do you think the two of them are getting along?" Cuddy asked, playing absently with a paperweight.

"Well, they haven't killed each other yet," Wilson answered with a grin. "I feel sort of bad throwing House at Cameron this time of year, but I think she needs it."

"This time of year?"

"Yeah… Tomorrow is the anniversary of her husband's death."

Cuddy frowned. "She doesn't seem all that upset about it at work."

"She wouldn't." Wilson sighed and readjusted his position in his chair. "Cameron's not as much of an open book as everyone makes her out to be. She's sweet and charming, sure. But she isn't weak, Lisa."

"I'm still getting over the fact that you caught him kissing her," Cuddy said, her face breaking into a wide smile. "I honestly didn't expect him to cave so quickly."

"Well, it's a good thing we've plotted together. I think us telling her that House was just being himself around a woman that he might be interested in really helped your case. Not only did they kiss, but House told me today that he's upset with himself. He _likes_ the way everything with Cameron is falling into a routine, and hates himself for it," Wilson said with a wide smile. "He'll be all over her in no time. She's exactly what he needs right now."

Cuddy nodded happily. "How long do you think it'll take before they're sleeping together?"

Wilson laughed. "Lisa, please. They'll be in the same bed by the end of the week. Oh! I called the exterminator's and told them to change his contact number to my cell, just so you know."

"Good job," Cuddy praised. "We'll stick the two peas in a pod for as long as humanly possible."

Wilson smirked evilly. "I also told them to go ahead and do a complete extermination on the place. Gave them my billing address." He cringed, though, and frowned. "But they shoved his rat off on me." Not that Wilson had anything against… Well, okay. He didn't like rodents.

"Poor baby."

"Hey, do you want to take care of the thing? The exterminators said that he could have stayed there if they were only doing the sink, since it's a caged animal. But since I told them to do the whole apartment…"

"You got the rat." Cuddy grinned and shook her head. "That's what you get for plotting behind his back."

"You're in on it, too! You're lucky I don't shove the rodent off on you to take care of."

"You'd never," she replied with an innocent smile. "You like me too much to do something like that to me, James."

"Yeah, yeah… Anyway. I need to get back to my office. I've got an appointment in a few minutes." He stood and walked to her desk, leaning down to place a small kiss on her forehead. "Here's to hoping that Cameron gets to House by the end of the week."


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer**: Not mine, blah-de-blah. But I like to play with them. They're SO much better than Tonka trucks...

**A/N:** WARNING! This chapter has smut. It's not heavy smut, but it's smut. If that offends you ... don't read it, silly! This fic IS rated M for a reason.  
Also! Thanks for all of the positive reviews. I really do appreciate them. You feed me, I feed you. ;) Enjoy!

**Chapter Eight**

Cameron felt considerably lighter since Foreman and Chase agreed to get drinks tomorrow night. It would get her out of her apartment and away from House for at least three hours, which was good. Because she didn't think she could be around him anymore without doing something decidedly destructive.

She stood at her stove, making dinner for the two of them and losing herself in her thoughts. House was in the living room, playing _Resident Evil_, much to her chagrin. He'd settled down in front of the television as soon as they'd gotten home, and had soon turned the game on without bothering to ask. She figured it was a way for him to think, much as cooking was a way for her to relax.

With a thoughtful frown, she spread some more marinade over her Portobello mushrooms as they cooked. Things with House just got stranger as the hours ticked by. He'd even had a real conversation with her on the way home. He _never_ did that. What was scary was that he hadn't snarked at all during the conversation. Cameron was half-tempted to take his temperature to be absolutely sure he wasn't sick.

She flipped the mushrooms and cracked her neck. It was stiff again, so she reached back to rub it as she waited for the other side of the mushrooms to cook. Soon, she heard the distinctive sound of House making his way into the kitchen.

"That smells good," he commented, looking curiously at the food. "What are you making?"

"Portobello mushrooms with marinade and tomato topping. I'll put mozzarella on the top, too."

"Damn." He looked around the kitchen and leaned against one of the counters. "Where did you learn how to cook, anyway?"

"Here and there," she answered mysteriously. "All you need to know is that I'm supremely good at it." She finished mixing up her tomatoes and rosemary, then poured in a bit of olive oil and stirred it before holding it out to him. "Smell," she ordered.

He sniffed the mixture was surprised. "That smells good, too. You ought to market candles," he said snidely. He reached out to grab a piece of cheese, but was stopped when Cameron slapped his hand with the spatula.

"Don't touch," she chided. "Not until I've put it on the mushrooms. Then you can have the rest."

"You're worse than my mother," he muttered dejectedly, looking around the kitchen to see what other mischief he could cause to get a bit of the mozzarella. "Could you get me a glass of water?"

"You know where the glasses are _and_ where the water is," she responded. She held her mixing bowl in one hand and a spoon in the other, dishing out the tomato mixture onto the mushrooms. "You're not getting any of the mozzarella, House."

"That's so rude." He got his own glass of water and continued to watch Cameron cook. She was quick and efficient, and it was sort of calming to watch her. This was where Cameron belonged, it seemed. Not barefoot in the kitchen or anything. But domesticated. It suited her.

And that bothered House like nothing else. He shouldn't even be _noticing_ that she looked good, let alone that she looked good domesticated. What the hell was wrong with him lately! First, he thinks about sex with Cameron. Then he dreams about it. Then he likes watching her cook? This was something he wouldn't be telling Wilson, if only because it would get him a good month of mocking.

He shook himself out of his thoughts and saw that Cameron had her back to the mozzarella. Quickly, he moved in and stole a piece. But Cameron caught him out of the corner of her eye and turned to confront him as he shoved the cheese into his mouth.

"I told you no," she said with a laugh.

"You've also told me that I'm worse than a child, so I guess that makes my actions completely understandable," he replied, chewing the mozzarella on the side of his mouth as he spoke. "But hey. It's good cheese." He tried to steal another piece, but Cameron grabbed a knife and held it to his stomach. "Ooh… That's dangerous. Kind of kinky, too."

"Get out of the kitchen," she ordered. "I'm almost done making dinner. All I have to do is put the cheese on top and let it melt."

House shrugged and grabbed a few pieces of the cheese, setting them on top of the mushrooms. "Look! I helped with dinner. And there's cheese left over." He took the slices and went back into the living room to eat them.

Cameron's eyes followed him and she had a soft smile on her face. He was … cute. She never thought she'd use "cute" and "House" in the same sentence, but it was true. And she scolded herself for thinking it; it didn't make things any easier for her. She was trying to get _over_ House, for the love of God. He wasn't exactly helping!

With a sigh, she placed the now-ready mushrooms on a serving platter and took the platter to the table. "Dinner's ready, House," she called, looking into the living room and letting out a small squeal when she saw a zombie running at the screen.

House laughed and paused the game before going to the table. "You really hate that game, don't you?" he asked as he sat down and helped himself to one of the mushrooms.

"I hate zombies. I think they're disgusting." She stabbed a mushroom for herself and set it on her plate. "When I was an undergrad, I worked in a pathology lab. My job was to transport body parts from one lab to another. It didn't bother me too much until my older sister had me sit down and watch _Night of the Living Dead_. The day after watching the movie, it sort of freaked me out to go into the lab and get this leg that I had to take to a lab across town." She took a bite of her mushroom and laughed softly. "The leg wasn't secured and it kicked the back of my seat repeatedly. I was driving down the highway screaming my head off, thinking that there was a zombie in my back seat and it was trying to eat my face or something, even though there was no way that leg was going to do anything other than kick around."

House stared at Cameron for a moment before laughing loudly. Cameron flushed and poked at her food a bit, then ate it slowly while looking around the room. Why had she told him that story! He'd use it against her later. She just knew it. God, she was such a moron sometimes… She felt like she was eighteen again and on a very awkward date, which wasn't good at all.

"Cameron, you…" House laughed some more before finally settling down enough to be able to speak coherently. "I got this picture of you ten years younger, driving in some beat up car on the highway, screaming like a banshee and thrashing your head from side-to-side like a patient having a seizure," he managed to explain through his chuckles. "And there's your sister in the back seat, grabbing this leg and beating on the back of your seat with it on purpose."

"Shut up!" she yelled at him, throwing a bit of cheese in his general direction. But she soon began laughing as well, and sat back in her chair, hiding her face in her hands. "Okay, I guess it's pretty funny," she admitted with small giggles.

"Pretty funny? Cameron, I'm half tempted to get a prosthetic leg and set it on your coffee table while you sleep just to see your reaction when you wake up." He took a bite of his mushroom and was about to tease her some more when he noticed the taste. "Jesus, Cameron…"

"What?" she asked, her brow furrowing.

His eyes narrowed and he studied her. "Did Wilson teach you how to cook?"

"What? No!" she replied, indignant. "Why would you think that?"

"Well, this is very good food. Everything you've made has been exceptional. When Wilson was staying with me, all of _his_ food was very good. Which makes me think that you learned from him, especially since you didn't tell me where you learned."

Cameron's eyes narrowed in challenge. "I'll have you know that Wilson didn't teach me how to cook, and you aren't manipulating me into telling you who did."

"Damn," he muttered, dropping his glare and taking a large bite of his dinner. The drama, it seemed, was over for now.

After dinner, Cameron played a video game while House sat at her laptop, scrolling through countless pages of medical information to find what could be taking hold of C-girl. The silence between them was companionable, which was surprising to both of them. But neither would dwell on it; Cameron was busy trying not to die in her game and House was too preoccupied with his research.

House tore his eyes away from the screen to rub them and set the computer on the coffee table. He would skip a shower tonight; he just wanted to change into his pajamas, do a bit more research, and then go to bed. Before going to the bedroom to change, he used the bathroom and closed the door when he was done. It was a habit he'd had since childhood to close the door if no one was in there. It kept the dog from drinking the toilet water, which was something House had been yelled at for multiple times. He kept the door shut to this day.

He went into Cameron's room and found his bag before taking his pants and shirt off and finding his pajama pants. A small smirk worked its way onto his face when he saw the door opening.

Cameron came into the room, took in the sight of a shirtless, pantsless House, and her jaw dropped. After a moment of shock, her hands flew to her face and she turned away from him. "I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed. "The bathroom door was shut. I thought you were in there, not in here!"

House gave a snort of laughter and pulled on his pajama pants. "You can turn around now. I'm decent," he teased. Of course, he hadn't put a shirt on… But she'd have to live with that, because there was no way in hell that he was sleeping in a shirt.

Cameron turned around slowly and faced him. "You don't have a shirt on," she groused.

"I'm not going to, either," he responded with a smug smile. "You're a big girl, Cameron. I'm sure you've seen men without their shirts on."

She glared at him and went to her dresser, pulling out her own pair of pajamas. "I've seen much better-looking men without their shirts on," she said simply. "I thought you might be uncomfortable with your shirt off around me. Lord knows you're-" Her words died in her throat when she turned around and was face-to-face with House.

_Please, God, don't let me gulp_, she thought desperately, her eyes meeting his. They reminded her of her favorite childhood villain: Captain Hook. Eyes as blue as forget-me-nots… _Oh, God, Allison, don't even go there right now!_

"Lord knows I'm what?" he asked her with a quirked eyebrow.

"You're…" Too close. "You're…" Very, very sexy. "You're…"

"You've got this stutter going on," he said, looking at her with mock concern. "Maybe we should call Foreman. See if there's neurological damage."

"There isn't," she said dumbly.

"Chase then. Could be a job for an intensivist to look at."

"I don't want you to call Chase."

"What do you want?"

"You," she blurted. "You. To move away. I want you to move away," she covered quickly.

"And if I move closer?" he asked softly, moving closer to her and keeping eye contact.

"I'll move back," she whispered, moving backwards and bumping right into the dresser.

"You're running out of room, Allison."

Oh, Lord… He'd used her first name. Coming off of his lips, it was like music. Anyone else and it would sound only normal, plain. He made it sound like a prayer. "I noticed." She wasn't only running out of room, she was running out of air. He was crowding her. And he smelled so good… And he made her lose any breath she may have had by standing so unbearably close to her.

"What are you going to do about it?" he asked. He had her right where he wanted her. This was something he hadn't noticed that he'd like about Cameron… She wasn't easy to manipulate, and she wasn't easy to seduce. But once he'd managed it, it was a breeze. He wondered if she was really going to give in right now.

"I'm going to…" What _was_ she going to do about it? She _liked_ it right where she was, and there was no point in lying about it. Her eyes traveled down his body and she felt a tug in her stomach. She wanted this man; there was no denying that. There really never was.

Cameron took in a deep breath and bolstered her courage. It was now or never, and she'd be damned if she was letting this opportunity pass her up. She dropped her pajamas to the ground and wrapped a hand around the back of House's neck, pulling him down to her so that she could brush her lips softly over his. This wasn't meant to be the intense kiss that he'd shocked her with back at the office; this was meant to be the kind of kiss that he wouldn't forget or brush off as passion in the heat of the moment.

When he didn't pull away, she brushed her lips over his again, letting her fingers play oh-so-lightly with the hairs at the nape of his neck. And he still stared at her, his eyes darkening slightly. He didn't move. He wasn't doing anything. He was just standing there, trapping her with his look.

Hesitantly, she moved her hand from his hair and trailed it down his chest, finally dropping it to her side. "You need to move," she told him quietly, proud of herself for being able to keep her eyes on his and not dropping them to the floor.

"…Okay." And he moved so that his body was pressed against hers. He favored his left side and slid an arm around her waist to keep her close. "This is a very bad idea," he murmured, his mouth descending to hers to capture it in a slow, heated kiss, which he ended by nipping at her bottom lip. "You're my employee…"

"Yeah… That's a real downer," she muttered, wrapping her arms around him and dropping a series of kisses along his jaw. She liked that his stubble scratched at her skin; it was supremely masculine.

"You're half my age," he growled, his grip on her waist tightening as he lowered his mouth to hers for another kiss, this one more sensual, hotter, more seductive.

"I'm not," she replied, giving a soft gasp when he nipped at her neck. "You're … not even twenty years older than I am."

"That's partially reassuring." He let his hand skim underneath her shirt to feel the soft, smooth skin of her back, slowly moving it to grip her side and knead her hip. He wrapped his hand around her shirt and was about to pull it off of her when the phone rang.

Cameron's eyes shot open at the sound and she glanced at the door.

"Ignore it," House muttered through clenched teeth.

Cameron nibbled on her bottom lip, which made House moan quietly. He swooped in to kiss her hotly. "Ignore it," he repeated, dropping nips and kisses along her neck to dissuade her from answering the phone.

"I have to…"

"You _don't_ have to…"

"It could be my mother, House."

"Then you'll be doing exactly what you told her you were doing the other night," he said with a smirk, which drew a small laugh from Cameron. The ringing stopped. "And when we're about to do the nasty, I'd prefer my first name."

Her eyes flew to his and she kissed his lips softly. "Greg." The phone started ringing again and she looked like she might cry from frustration. "I have to answer it," she said apologetically.

He sighed dramatically and moved, letting her through. She grabbed the cordless phone and came back into the bedroom while she spoke to whoever was on the other line. House sat on the edge of the bed and listened to her conversation. She must not have minded him hearing it if she'd brought it back into the bedroom, anyway.

"Friday's fine, Adam," she said, picking up the pajamas that she'd dropped to the floor and folding them again, placing them neatly on the edge of the bed. "Have Angie bring you over around seven. I'll order a pizza." She sat down next to House as she listened to her brother. "I am not watching you play _Resident Evil_, Adam. But I have a friend over who might want to watch. Maybe he'll even help you."

House smirked and assessed the situation. Cameron was on the phone with her brother. The phone was on her right ear, and her left side was close to him. He could have plenty of fun if he wanted to… And, oh, but he did. He leaned in and moved her hair away from her left shoulder, placing light kisses along her neck.

"No… Ah… Well, I can check…" Cameron moved her hand to push House away from her, but he caught it and nipped at her palm, and then her wrist, instead. "Yeah, I'm fine." She cleared her throat. "No, that's okay. I'll call you when I get home on Friday. Okay… All right. You, too, Adam. Bye."

She hung up the phone and tossed it on her bedside table before turning to straddle House, careful to keep her weight off of his bad leg as much as possible. "You're horrible," she scolded playfully, her hands diving into his hair once more as her lips met his in a burning battle for domination. She pulled away from him long enough to give him a small smile and push him down so that she could lean over him to kiss him.

His hands went to her hips, holding onto her as he changed the angle of the kiss. He should have done this months ago. If he had, he probably wouldn't make as many nurses cry… He let out a moan when Cameron repeated a move he'd used earlier and nipped sharply at his neck. Without a second thought, he gripped the bottom of her shirt and pulled on it to tell Cameron that he wanted it off. She sat up and held up her arms, and he pulled the shirt off and tossed it to the side.

"Thank you, God," he muttered when he saw her. Clad in a bra and dress pants, she was likely the sexiest thing he'd seen in a long time. She laughed and cradled his face in her hands, dropping teasing kisses on his lips and refusing to let him deepen them into a real kiss. "Tease," he growled.

"Yeah," she replied, not affected in the least by the name. She started to scoot lower on his body, her hands going to the waistband of his pajama pants when the phone rang again. "Goddammit!" she exclaimed, her head falling to rest on his stomach for a moment before she rolled off of him and grabbed the phone. "Hello?" she answered irritably.

House frowned and sat up on his arms, twisting his neck to see Cameron as she paced next to the bed. She looked funny walking around angrily in a bra and work pants, and he resisted the urge to laugh. He was about to say something about it when Cameron stopped dead in her tracks.

"Joe?"

Joe? Who the hell was Joe?

"No, I… Why are you calling me?"

She sounded panicked, and looked the same way. House frowned and sat up, watching her as she looked around the room frantically.

"I know what tomorrow is, I'm not a moron," she snapped, the hand that was holding the phone shaking horribly. "I don't want to. I have plans. I have someone over right now. I don't want to talk." Everything was said at rapid speed, and House's eyes narrowed as he watched Cameron's panic jump between anxiety and anger. "I didn't listen to the message, Joe. I didn't want to. I don't want to. I'm hanging up now." And she did. She stared at the phone before looking at House. "I'm sorry…"

"Ex-boyfriend ruin the mood?" he asked darkly.

"What? Ex… No. No, Hou- Greg. That was…" She sat on the side of the bed and set the phone down next to her. "When Dean was dying, his best friend was there with me the entire time. We almost… I couldn't. He was upset. Joe was, not Dean. I haven't heard from him in a long time," she finished softly.

"And, of course, you still have feelings for him," he said scathingly. It would figure. It would only figure that he'd be five minutes away from sex with Cameron and her old flame would call her and drum up old feelings, making her forget all about the old cripple in the room.

"Jumping to conclusions isn't going to get you anywhere," she retorted, moving to sit next to him. "I never had any feelings for him. It was like a weird case of Stockholm syndrome. If I had feelings for him, I wouldn't have wanted him off the damn phone."

Silence settled over them, thickening the air. Cameron looked at the ground and House looked at the door. They didn't say or do anything; they simply sat there. Until House opened his mouth.

"You almost cheated on your husband with his best friend," he said hesitantly, finally tearing his gaze away from the door and settling it on Cameron. "And now that he's called, you're remembering that."

Cameron was silent. House was right and he knew it; he didn't need her affirmation.

"You need to remember something else, Cameron," he told her softly, taking her chin in his hand and forcing her to look at him. "Your husband is gone. It isn't cheating anymore."

She took in a quick breath and her eyes filled with tears. "How did you know I was…?" She shook her head and looked away from him, wiping frantically at her eyes. "I'm sure this does a lot for that age difference," she said, trying to lighten the mood.

House let a little grin settle on his face. "Well, you know… I always thought sobbing twenty-year-olds were kind of hot. I even request them when I call an escort service."

Cameron laughed and pushed him casually. "You're such an ass."

"I get that a lot. Except from those escorts…" When Cameron laughed again, he decided that the crisis was abated. There was no way there would be any sex tonight, which he found himself depressed about. He wanted Cameron, plain and simple. But he wasn't stupid, and he knew that the mood was completely ruined. "You should get some sleep," he told her, reaching across her to grab up her pajamas and hand them to her.

She took the pajamas and gave him a grateful look. "I'm sorry about-"

"Don't be," he said quickly. "Go on." He nodded his head toward the bathroom.

"Would you…" Cameron bit her lip before finally asking. "Would you mind if I slept in here tonight?" When House gave her a smirk and opened his mouth to make what she was sure would be a sarcastic remark, she explained herself quickly. "The couch makes my back hurt and I'm not about to make you sleep on it with your leg. If it bothers you, I'll just stay out there anyway."

"Is your alarm going to wake me up at five AM?" he asked suspiciously. He really wouldn't let her stay in there if she planned on being up that damned early.

She thought for a long moment before answering. "No… But it will wake you up around a quarter after six."

"Fine," he sighed. "It doesn't bother me."

After she'd changed, she climbed into bed, lying on House's left side. They both fell asleep easily, finally at a point where they were comfortable in each other's presence. Halfway through the night, House rolled onto his left side and threw his arm around Cameron's hips. Neither of them woke up, but Cameron cuddled closer.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** I ... still don't own them. :( It's a sad, sad day...

**Chapter Nine**

When the alarm went off the next morning, Cameron grumbled before turning over and hitting the snooze button. It didn't seem that the alarm or her movement had bothered House, as he appeared to have remained sleeping with his arm thrown haphazardly over her waist.

She didn't want to get up. It was Thursday, and Thursday was supposed to be a very bad day. But waking up in House's arms had already made it ten times better. Smiling to herself, she moved to get out of bed.

House's arm tightened around her waist and pulled her back to him. "It's not even seven in the morning," he muttered. His eyes were still closed, though he actually had woken up with the alarm. "It isn't going to kill you to stay in bed for another hour."

"I need to get up and shower so my hair will dry before work," she explained, surprised at how normal it felt to wake up next to House.

"Use a blow dryer," he groused. "If Wilson can use one, I'm pretty sure you can."

"Why are you so adamant about keeping me in bed? You can go back to sleep," she stated with a small laugh when she attempted to get out of bed again, but was thwarted by his arm once more.

"Because I'm warm and if you leave, I'll be cold. And so will my leg, which means that it'll start hurting. And then I'll have to make you get my Vicodin out of my coat pocket, and you'll clench because you hate the fact that I take them, and things will just get ugly. Therefore, you should stay in bed, where you can keep my leg warm."

"What logic," she remarked with a yawn.

"You're even still tired." He reached over her and reset the alarm for seven-thirty. "Back to sleep."

"House-"

"Sleep!" he exclaimed, closing his eyes and pulling her close again. "I'll even pay for breakfast on the way to work."

"But-"

"Cameron. Sleep."

"I'm awake now!"

"Then stay awake! Just stay in bed," he mumbled, resting his chin on top of her head. He'd been serious when he told her that the warmer his leg was, the better it felt. There was always a dull throbbing, but it worsened immensely when his leg was cold. Body heat helped considerably. So did those sticky heating pad things, but he didn't want to buy them.

Cameron sighed and turned so that she was facing him, letting her arm rest around his waist and closing her eyes. Maybe she could doze off again…

The next time the alarm went off, she jumped. She'd actually gone back to sleep? She hadn't fallen back to sleep after waking up since… A small smile spread on her face. Since Dean. She sighed and sat up, turning off the alarm. House slept peacefully by her side, shifting only slightly when she sat up.

She may as well admit it to herself. She was head over heels for him, and there was nothing to be done for it. It was rather ironic that she'd finally admit it on the anniversary of her husband's death, but she'd live with it. Dean had told her that he wanted her to find happiness again, and maybe she had.

As she got out of bed, she shook herself out of her reverie. She needed to stop before she got ahead of herself. House wasn't promising her anything. They didn't even have a real relationship, as things stood. They'd almost slept together, but she knew better than to think that almost having sex actually meant anything in the wide world of House. She didn't even know if _actually_ having sex meant anything in House's mind.

But she put most of her doubts for the day in the back of her mind and grabbed up her work clothes, padding into the bathroom to turn on the shower. Before stepping in, though, she wrapped her towel around her and went to the living room, grabbing the Vicodin out of House's jacket and going back into the bedroom to place it on the bedside table, where he'd see it when he woke up.

It was natural for her to do things like that. It always had been and probably always would be, she thought as she stepped into the shower.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The morning at work passed by uneventfully. Cameron, Foreman, and Chase sat in the diagnostics room with House, trying desperately to come up with any new possibilities involving Caitlin's case. They'd decided on ways to alter her diet, trying each new alteration for five days at a time. There was no other way to go about this. And solving the problems with her stomach may solve all of the woman's other problems.

Chase left to inform the patient of the diet alterations, House went to his office to watch TV, and Cameron sat in the diagnostics room with Foreman, discussing their plans for that evening.

"I have to leave here around five and meet someone for dinner, then I'll meet you guys at the bar."

"Where did you want to go, anyway?" Foreman asked. "There's this new place that just opened down the road called the Caduceus." He laughed and poured himself a cup of coffee. "It might be cool to check it out."

Cameron smiled at the name and nodded. "Sounds like a plan. What's your girlfriend do?"

"She's a real estate agent," he informed her, blowing on his coffee to cool it. "I met her when I was looking for a new place. You'll like her. She's got a great sense of humor." He sat back down and tucked his tie against his shirt. "So how are things with House?" he asked knowingly. "Jump him yet?"

She rolled her eyes and went to refill her own coffee cup. "No," she responded emphatically. "And I don't plan on doing so. If he wants something, he can make the first move." Which he sort of had last night. And she hadn't jumped him! She'd just … sort of … straddled him a little.

"You know he won't do that, Cameron."

"I'm … not so sure he won't," she said mysteriously, leaning against the counter and sipping at her coffee. "But it doesn't matter right now. So I'll meet you two at the Caduceus around seven or eight."

Foreman grinned at Cameron's reluctance to talk about anything concerning House. He was more than willing to be that something had happened between them last night, which meant he had about two hundred dollars total coming his way from Cuddy, Wilson, and Chase. "You, uh… Sure there isn't anything happening with House?"

"Foreman, I'm not discussing it with you, even if there is," she said sweetly. "I know when you're pulling the big brother act _and_ I know that you told House to be his jerky self when he took me on a date."

"How did you find that out?" he asked incredulously.

Cameron grinned and sipped at her coffee some more. "I know your secret," she said in a sing-song voice, right as Chase rushed into the room.

"Gluten!" he said excitedly, hurrying to the dry-erase board and jotting down a series of symptoms in green instead of the black that House had used. "I remembered the case from med school. The patient couldn't eat anything containing gluten without getting sick. And every time she ate something containing gluten, she'd show more symptoms and diseases."

House stood in his doorway with a print-out from his computer. "Celiac Disease," he stated with a smirk. "Let's get C-girl to stop eating bread. Foreman, Chase, go tell her we know what's wrong and start her on meds to reverse the symptoms so far, then give her the right diet. Cameron, you stay here and chart it."

"I'll chart it," Foreman offered with a smirk. "Cameron can go and-."

"Go do your job, Foreman," House said threateningly. Foreman held his hands up in surrender and whistled on his way out of the room. House turned his attention back to Cameron. "Are you going to the cemetery tonight?" he asked bluntly.

She nodded and wrote down some notes on the charts. "I promised Jackie I'd meet her there."

"I'll need a spare key to your apartment, then."

Cameron frowned and reached into her pants pockets. She pulled out the only key to her apartment and handed it to him. "I don't keep a spare, so just take mine. I'll be back around six-thirty or seven, and then I'm meeting Foreman, Chase, and Foreman's girlfriend for drinks at this new place a few blocks away from the hospital."

He walked to her and took the key, letting his hand hover with hers for just a few moments. "Stop by Zeigler Florist on your way to the cemetery," he told her, going back to his office. "There's a bouquet ready there."

She looked up in surprise and was ready to thank him as the door swung shut behind him.

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House swung his leg over his bike and started the engine, the key to Cameron's apartment tucked safely away in the pocket of his jeans. He sped his way to her apartment and felt lost once he was actually there.

What was he supposed to eat for dinner? Cameron usually cooked. But she was out with what's-her-name, visiting that guy's grave. Yeah … he was _great_ with names. He sat down on the couch and grabbed up the remote, turning on something drab for background noise as he considered ordering some take-out.

The good thing about Cameron being out and planning on dropping by only to change and then go out again was that it gave him time to assess his current situation. The exterminator still hadn't called, which was more annoying than he cared to admit. And until he heard back, there was nothing he could do about his living situation.

Sleeping with Cameron, only sleeping with her, had an effect on him that he didn't care to admit to. He felt lighter somehow, and that irked the hell out of him. She had no right to barge into his life and try to take away his bitterness. And that's just what she was trying to do. It had to be. That's who she _was_.

He frowned deeply and picked up the phone, calling for a pizza. After hanging up, he settled back into his thoughts. Cameron was too nice to try and manipulate him. He'd spent some of his time today talking to Wilson about part of the ordeal. And while talking to his friend, he basically dropped subtle hints that maybe something happened between them and maybe he had liked it, interspersed with bits of snark, of course.

Wilson had suggested that Cameron was just as confused as House was, and that they both needed to sit down and talk about it. House, however, knew that the likeliness of that happening was equivalent to his leg healing completely and him dancing under rainbows.

It wasn't going to happen.

He tapped the butt of his cane irritably on the coffee table as he listened to the noise that the television provided. What was he going to do about this? He was finding himself far more attached to Cameron than he ever wanted to be, and that not only bothered him, but it scared him. The last time he fell this fast for someone, it had been Stacy. And look how that turned out. She was happily married to another man. Things were just looking so damned bright.

But, he reminded himself, Cameron was most definitely not Stacy. She was nicer, more compassionate… She was a much more beautiful person that Stacy ever had been. House had been attracted to Stacy because she was, quite frankly, a bitch. She knew what she wanted and she knew how to get it. She shared his sense of humor and wasn't easily wounded. What was best about her was that she was a strong person who didn't let small things get to her.

Cameron, on the other hand… Cameron was the furthest thing from a bitch. She was sure of what she wanted, and certain of how to get a hold of it, but she rarely had the gumption to follow through with it. She was the very epitome of a healer: kind, concerned, considerate, and constantly worried. It was far too easy to wound her, and the wounds that were inflicted always cut deep.

So why was he so attracted to her? What about her made him want to stick around? It was getting more difficult each day for him not to mock her at least a little bit. He'd started literally biting his tongue each time a remark sprang to his lips. But there was no way he was going to give into his desire to mock her; it would get him two extra weeks of clinic duty. Forget that.

He picked up the remote and clicked off the television. What worried him the most was that he could feel himself adapting to Cameron. It wasn't any easier to hold back his sarcastic remarks. It wasn't any easier to be nice to her. But it was getting easier to forget for a little while that his leg was in pain. And it was getting a little bit easier to tease her and joke with her. It was getting much easier to be around her. He recognized this feeling that was starting in his gut, and he wasn't the least bit happy about it.

What right did she have to do this to him? To try to change him? To heal him? And to begin to pull it off.

There was a knock on the door, which he knew had to be the pizza. He answered it, paid for the pizza, and went into the kitchen, where another frown settled on his face.

"Damn you, Cameron," he muttered into the kitchen. "I should fire you." He took his pizza and plopped a few pieces on a plate before going into the fridge and getting a glass of orange juice. "I should grab all of my shit and just leave this place before you get back. This is ridiculous. You have me _talking to myself_! I really hope you're happy…" He took his pizza back into the living room, where Cameron had ordered him not to eat, and put his feet up on the coffee table in his own little act of rebellion.

He'd just started on his third piece of pizza when Cameron walked in the door. She saw him eating in front of the TV and frowned. "I told you to eat at the table…" She shrugged out of her coat and hung it on the coat rack before going to him and stealing a pepperoni off of his pizza. "Thank you. For the flowers."

He shrugged uncomfortably, batting at her hand to keep it away from his food. "It was Wilson's idea," he muttered.

She smiled and sat down in one of the chairs. "Well thank you anyway." After glancing at the TV, her eyebrows raised. "You're watching Spongebob?" she asked flatly.

"It's quality programming."

"For pre-teens," Cameron retorted with a snort.

House's gaze slid over to her. "Aren't you supposed to be going out with Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum?"

"I told them I'd meet them around seven or eight. I have time." She sat back comfortably in her chair and gave a small sigh. "Why did you order a pizza?" she asked, her head resting on the back of the chair.

"You weren't here to cook," he answered simply. "And you don't have anything to make sandwiches with."

"There were leftovers in the fridge."

House gasped and dropped his pizza to his plate. "You expected me to go through your things! Dr. Cameron, I'm surprised." He went back to eating his pizza with a semi-lecherous smirk. "By the way, I think I'm in love with that sexy little underwear drawer you keep."

"Oh, ha, ha," she responded tiredly. "If I kept a sexy underwear drawer, I'd be embarrassed."

He cringed. "Don't tell me you're a granny-panty type of girl."

She laughed. "No. I'm not." She stood and made her way to the bedroom, intent on finding different clothes to wear to the bar. With a grin, she settled on low-rider jeans and a cute little red top that she hadn't worn for a few months. If she was going to have a night out, she'd look good, damn it.

Standing at the grave site with Jackie had been a more cleansing experience than Cameron had expected it to be. Jackie had asked about Cameron's personal life, and Cameron had answered honestly, that she was interested in someone. They talked about it over dinner, and Jackie had smiled at the end and told Cameron that she wanted to meet this man, which had warmed Cameron's heart a little. She looked at Jackie as a mother and always would.

After changing, Cameron grabbed her cell phone and headed back into the living room, shoving the phone in her pocket. "House, I need my apartment key back," she informed him, going straight to her coat to grab her key ring.

"Here you go," he told her, tossing it at her.

She caught it, which she found impressive, and started placing it back on her key ring. "Have you heard from the exterminator at all?"

House scowled. "No. And I'm starting to think they've killed Steve."

"Steve…?"

"Steve McQueen," he said, stating it as though she really ought to know who he was. "My rat."

"Leave it to you to own a rat," she muttered. "Look, I'll be out late. If you get hungry, now you know that there are leftovers in the fridge. And has it crossed your mind to actually _call_ the exterminator and ask what's going on?"

"Cameron, if I could remember the number, I would. As of right now, that number is sitting in my apartment on my counter top, just waiting to be called." He popped the last of his pizza in his mouth and looked at her for a retort.

"Then do what you do with all of your patients," she said, grabbing her coat and heading out the door. "Break in."

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The night out with the boys had gone very well. It really had been just what she needed. And Foreman had been right; she thought his girlfriend was great. The two of them got along well, and spent most of the night picking on Foreman and Chase. She'd only had a few drinks, and had followed them with water, being sure not to drink for at least one hour before going home.

Cameron checked her watch as she opened the door quietly. It was well past midnight, which she didn't really have a problem with. They didn't have any patients tomorrow, unless someone came in. And in that case, coffee would get her focused just fine. She was surprised to see all of the lights still on.

"You're still up?" she asked House in surprise upon seeing him sitting on the couch, playing a video game.

"No. I'm sleep-playing. It's a new technique they're developing over at Princeton. I was the number one candidate since I'm so damn cuddly." He paused the game and looked over at her. "People called to talk to you. Your mother was particularly interested when I answered the phone," he said with a smirk.

"Oh, God… What did you say to her?" she asked, panicking at the possibilities. Her mother would _kill_ her…

"I told her that you were out with friends and would call her tomorrow. See? I can be nice."

But Cameron was suspicious. "You really didn't snark at her?"

"Nope. Not that I wasn't tempted. I had to make it up in other areas." He un-paused the game and continued playing to avoid the glare he knew he was going to get. "I snarked at that Joe guy instead."

Cameron stood quietly, staring at House slack jawed. "House… What did you say to him?"

"I don't remember." He protested loudly when Cameron snatched the controller out of his hands and turned off the game. "Oh, fine. Turn off my game."

"I want to know what you said to him."

"Why?" he asked accusatorily. "It seemed like you really didn't want to speak with him last night, and I took care of it. I don't see why you need to know what was said. All you need to know is that he isn't going to bother you anymore."

"You _took care of it_?" she asked dangerously, tossing the controller into a box with others. "What the hell do you mean, you 'took care of it?' It wasn't your problem to take care of! I would have dealt with it sooner or later!"

He grabbed his cane and stood, looking at her as though he didn't quite believe her. And he didn't. "How?" he asked acerbically. "By deleting his messages off of your answering machine? By hanging up on him? Or maybe even by just not bothering to answer his calls. That sure is dealing with it, Cameron."

"You're scolding _me_ for not being able to deal with something?" she asked with a disbelieving laugh. "Well if it isn't the pot calling the kettle black."

"The last time you brought my leg into an argument, I kissed you," he reminded her. "Do it again and I might fuck you against a wall, so watch it."

"It's ironic that me pointing out your faults makes you so angry, but when you point out mine, you think it's fun."

"You used ironic incorrectly," he snapped back. "I'm not arguing with you about faults right now, Cameron." He moved toward her and was pleasantly surprised when she didn't move away. "I took care of something that I know for a fact you never would have. Shouldn't you be happy about that?"

"No. I shouldn't," she protested softly. "It's not your place to do that. You're not…" She paused and looked away from him. "You aren't my boyfriend, fiancé, or husband to solve my problems. I can speak to you about them, but you have no right attempting to solve them."

"So what you're saying is that if I date you, I can?" he asked with a sneer.

"I didn't mean it that way. I just meant…" She let out a frustrated sigh and gripped her hair with her hands. "If you ever feel like solving another problem of mine, talk to me about it first."

"Why? So you can tell me how you'll take care of it?"

"You're talking like you plan on solving a lot of my problems in the future," Cameron shot back heatedly.

He moved closer to her… Dangerously close. "And if I told you I was? What then?"

Her eyes narrowed to angry slits. "What are you going to do next, House? Tell me you love me and then swab my mouth? Well, guess what! I've already been given the all-clear on that, so you'll have to try something else this time." When he had done that, it had cut deep and reminded her that she was still far from over him.

He looked down at her and frowned. "First, if I ever tell you I love you, it's never going to be in front of Blackie and the Wombat," he said lowly. "Second, you deserved that. You were refusing to get the test for a fear that was completely unfounded. The chances of you contracting AIDS were slim to none. Third…"

When he didn't continue, Cameron finally looked at him expectantly. "Third?"

His finger slipped into one of the belt loops on her jeans and pulled her close to him. "Third," he murmured, his free hand dropping his cane and going into her hair to pull her in for a heated kiss. It was official: he'd fallen. Somewhere along the way, he'd fallen for Allison Cameron. It hadn't been a hard fall … it had been slow and sweet. And that pissed him off, but he'd live with it. Of course, he probably wouldn't tell Cameron…

"Why do you keep kissing me after we argue?" she asked her lips brushing his as she spoke.

"Arguing with you turns me on. What can I say?" he responded, moving away from her and leaning on the edge of the couch for support. "I think it's a prelude to awesome makeup sex."

"Not tonight, it isn't," she mumbled, looking at the clock. "It's almost one in the morning, House. I have to be up in four hours."

"No. You have to be up in six hours."

"My morning jog-"

"You planning on sleeping in your bed with me again?" he asked with a quirked eyebrow.

She blinked and shrugged. "I wasn't going to ask…"

"Well, you're going to sleep there. And you're going to sleep until seven so that I can get a full night's sleep without my leg waking me up." He knew that was the best way to get to her. Make her feel guilty.

After a moment of internal debate, she sighed. "Fine. I'll sleep with you again."

He smirked and went to the bedroom, tossing her the pajamas that she'd folded neatly and set on the edge of the bed. "You put my Vicodin on the bedside table this morning," he stated plainly as she went into the bathroom to change.

"I thought it would help."

"It did," he replied, leaning against the doorway to the bedroom and waiting for her to come out of the bathroom. He heard her brushing her teeth (something he'd done hours ago), and then the sound of the sink, before she appeared in the doorway. He let her get settled in bed before climbing in, as well.

This time, neither of them fell asleep all that quickly. Both of them had their minds on the argument that they'd had. Cameron was dwelling on how much House's kisses were affecting her. House was dwelling on the fact that he'd fallen for a woman at least fifteen years his junior.

He frowned thoughtfully and closed his eyes, planning on falling asleep. He hadn't had any liquor in the past three days. His leg wasn't hurting him as badly. He'd cut his Vicodin intake by five pills. Ever since staying with Cameron. He looked over at her and wasn't surprised to see that she was already asleep. He'd get there eventually.

In her sleep, Cameron sighed and rolled over, cuddling into House's side.

Well … maybe he'd get to sleep a bit sooner than expected.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer:** Do you have any idea how DEPRESSED it makes me to CONTINUE to tell you that they AREN'T MINE!

**A/N:** Ladies and gentlemen ... the moment that you've all been waiting for is down below. ;) Besides that wonderful tidbit, I could use a beta-reader if anyone's interested. I'd like someone who could read the chapters and get them back to me within a day or so. If you're interested, leave a comment about it or contact me! Thanks, and enjoy your chapter!

**Chapter Ten**

"Jimmy, I'm telling you… She's putting something in my food," House grumbled to Wilson over lunch the next day. "I've slept with her for two nights in a row, for Christ's sake. _Slept with her_."

Wilson dropped his fork. "Wait… You two had sex?"

"No," House snapped with a frown, stabbing a piece of steak angrily. "We've slept together. That's it. Slept."

"Like … just … slept. In the same bed."

"No, Jimmy, on the couch," he snarked, tilting his head to the side before throwing his own fork down. "_Yes_, in the same bed. She's driving me insane. I swear to God… She always smells like some sort of fruit mixed with mint, her hair is always falling into her eyes and you'd think it would bother her but it doesn't appear to, and she keeps her apartment immaculately clean. I still haven't heard from those damned exterminators, and if I don't hear from them soon, I may really lose my mind."

Wilson sat back and crossed his arms, giving House a knowing smirk. "I've seen you like this before," he said calmly. "Except it wasn't so manic. You were much cooler about it with Stacy."

"Forget Stacy!" House exclaimed, looking slightly panicked. "I've _held_ Cameron, Jimmy. _Held her_." He frowned deeply when his best friend began laughing. "Just what the hell is so funny?"

"You! Look at you! You're in love with Allison Cameron!" His laughter continued and he held his gut. "You've fallen in love with the queen of niceness. Has it rubbed off on you yet, Greg? Ooh! Are you going to start wearing your lab coat like a good boy?"

"Go to hell," House grumbled, poking at his food. "I am _not_ in love with her. She is nothing more than a pleasant distraction." When Wilson hadn't stopped laughing, House threw a fork at him. "Would you stop that?"

"Greg, come on… Stop denying it. You've fallen for Cameron." He smiled and spoke seriously to his friend. "Honestly, I'm happy for you. She's good for you."

"She isn't good for anyone. She's a train wreck."

"Technically, she's only half of one. You're the other half. I'd suggest letting the wreck happen." When House didn't respond, Wilson looked at him sternly. "Greg, I'm serious. The two of you together… Hell, Cuddy would even turn the other way. Chase and Foreman would, too. As long as you kept it quiet, no one in the hospital would care."

"She's my employee, Jimmy. Sleeping with her is one thing. Hell, sex with her is one thing. Seeing her would be quite another. She'd expect me to treat her differently at work."

"She would not, and we both know that," Wilson defended immediately. "She's worth a whole lot more than you give her credit for. Now stop dwelling over this and go do something about it."

"What do you expect me to do!" House exclaimed. "Go up to my office and announce it to the world? I'm not like you, Jimmy. I don't want any romantic bullshit and I'm not about to offer it, either. Cameron needs someone who will."

"She's slept in the same bed as you! If she _does_ need roses and chocolates, she certainly isn't going about getting it the right way." He paused and studied his friend closely. "She's been head over heels for you for, what… Two years now? One and a half? If someone better for her had come along, she would have snatched him up."

"She had sex with Chase," House pointed out.

"She was high on drugs!" Wilson laughed in disbelief. "Stop doing this to yourself, Greg. Take your lunch and go to your office and wait for her. Talk to her. Tell her at least some of how you feel."

"I'm not doing that. It's insane."

They were quiet for a while before Wilson took in a slow breath. "She isn't Stacy, Greg. She's not going to-"

"I know she's not," he cut the oncologist off. "I spent a good twenty minutes last night contrasting the two of them." He stabbed his food and left the fork in it. He was at a loss. For once in his life, he was at a complete loss.

"Let her know somehow," Wilson said gently. "You don't even have to tell her. Just let her know."

House scratched at his forehead and scrunched his face, annoyed at the turn of events. He'd chosen to talk to Wilson about it because he knew that his friend would be there if he really needed it, all mocking set aside. What he _really_ needed was a stiff drink. But since he couldn't get that, he'd settle for talking it out with Jimmy. "I don't know how," he admitted with a frown.

"I hate to keep bringing it up… But you never had a problem telling Stacy you loved her," Wilson said softly. "Why is it so different with Cameron?"

He tapped his fingers on the table in agitation and stared at them as he did so. "Because Cameron is so different," he said, watching as his fingers pretended to play the piano on the table. "She's … fragile. I'm not going to tell her something that I'm not sure of, and then have her blow up in my face when I do something to hurt her. And believe me. I will."

"I wasn't contesting the statement." Wilson sat back and sighed. "So don't tell her. Wait a while for it… Hell, House. Date her. Have an actual relationship with her. Let her get used to the fact that you are possibly the most imperfect man out there. She fell for you, regardless of your faults. Maybe even because of them. Who knows? The only way you're ever going to figure any of it out is to take it slowly and talk it out."

"This coming from the man with three wives and countless affairs under his belt," House mumbled irritably.

"You came to me for advice on this one," Wilson said with a quirked eyebrow. "And hey… Chalk them up as experience. Just trust me with this, okay?" He stood and grabbed his tray to take to the nearest trash can. "Give her some more credit. She deserves it. She'll stick with you."

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It was three in the afternoon. They had no patients. Cameron, Chase, and Foreman had all finished their clinic duty for the week. So they sat in the diagnostics room bouncing a ball back and forth between the three of them.

"How's living with House going?" Chase asked, bouncing the ball to Cameron. "Jumped him yet?"

"Why do you two keep asking me that?" she replied, flustered, and bounced the ball to Foreman.

"Because, let's face it… You've still got the hots for him," Foreman answered with a smile. "When it comes to House, you're as easy to read as a beginner's book." He bounced the ball to Chase. "We know you still want him."

"Any female over the age of twenty would want him," she said with a frown.

"Yeah, until he opened his mouth," Chase laughed, feigning a bounce to Cameron and bouncing the ball to Foreman. "Girls just fawn over older men that put them down all of the time."

"Maybe she's a masochist," Foreman offered, smirking and bouncing the ball back to Chase when Cameron tried to get it from him. "Are you a masochist, Cameron? I'll bet you are…"

"You two are horrible." She finally got a hold of the ball and kept it away from them. "I haven't jumped house, I'm not a masochist, and if you two don't stop, I'll tell Cuddy that both of you were telling me the other day how much you want more clinic duty."

House stood in the doorway with a smirk on his face. "Four days and I've changed how she manipulates people!" he exclaimed, sounding like a mad scientist. "First, the hospital. Then, the world!"

Foreman rolled his eyes and pointed to Cameron. "She stole our ball."

Chase snorted and pulled a piece of gum out of his pocket, popping it in his mouth to chew on it. "Have you found a case?" he asked hopefully. It was dreadfully boring to sit around the hospital all day with nothing to do.

"Surprisingly, no," House answered, going to Cameron and stealing the ball out of her hands, leaving her with a frown. "Apparently, people just aren't dying quickly enough around here." He looked at Foreman and looked around suspiciously. "All right, Foreman. Quick! Go break into a house and shoot up an unsuspecting person with Colchicine."

"I'll get right on it," he replied, sitting back in his chair and yawning. "Right after I find the cure for Tay Sachs."

"Always ruining my fun…" House checked his watch and looked at Cameron. "Let's get out of here. I'm not staying another two hours on a Friday."

Chase and Foreman shared duel grins and watched the interchange. They had their own little bet going that Cameron would play subservient to House for a while before finally standing up and either slapping him or telling him off.

"I'm scheduled until five," she responded with a shrug. "I'm staying and getting paid until five."

"For the love of… I'll _pay_ you until five if we leave _now_."

"House…"

"Come _on_, Cameron. Be daring."

She frowned at him for a while before giving in with a sigh. "Fine. But if you're paying me until five, you're paying Foreman and Chase until five, and they get to leave, too."

"Done." House slung his bag over his back and nodded to Foreman and Chase. "Be free, children!" He turned back to Cameron and nodded toward the door. "Let's go."

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As soon as they walked into the apartment and Cameron had closed the door, House began tapping his cane on the floor. "What time did your brother expect you to be off work?"

"I told him I'd call around six, so-"

"Oh, good." He turned and pushed her against the door, his mouth immediately capturing hers in a deep kiss. Her lips were cold from the outdoors, but her mouth was oh, so warm once he'd slipped his tongue inside. He could tell he'd caught her off guard, as her eyes were wide with confusion before slipping closed in acceptance. Her hands went to the back of his neck, fingers tangling in his hair as she pulled him closer.

She kept her lips locked with his, sighing into the kisses as she shoved his coat off of him and to the floor. His cane cluttered down with it, but he was able to move them away from the door enough to shove her coat off as well.

He pulled away from her and took in her now-ravished appearance. "I've been waiting to do that all day," he admitted, his voice slightly gritty from wanting her all damned day.

"You might have traumatized Foreman and Chase if you'd given into that urge," she replied with a small laugh, trying to catch her breath.

"Good thing they aren't around now… I'd traumatize them even more." He wrapped an arm around her waist and used her as his support, leaning down to nibble at her earlobe. "Is two and a half hours enough time to seduce you, have sex with you, and then let you bask in the afterglow?" he murmured into her ear.

Her knees nearly gave out on her, and the only two words running through her mind were 'sex' and 'House.' "You're halfway done with the first part," she whispered. "You know where the bedroom is if you'd like to finish it."

There was absolutely nothing sexy about a cripple limping to a bedroom, and House knew this. He dropped a kiss on Cameron's neck before nodding for her to go ahead of him, which she did with little protest. He followed, closing the door behind them.

"If the phone rings this time, you ignore the hell out of it," he ordered, leaning against the door.

Cameron laughed softly. "I was already planning on it." She reached for him, her hands slipping beneath his shirt to feel the skin there, scraping her nails lightly along his stomach. He drew in a quick breath at the sensation and started moving toward the bed. Thankfully, it wasn't too far away, and he was able to reach it with little pain. He'd taken a couple of Vicodin before getting in the car to come back here, knowing what he was planning on doing and preparing for it in advance.

Once at the bed, he gave her a grin and pushed her down so that she sat on the edge. She couldn't help but wonder exactly how this was going to work with his leg, but the thought was gone when he stripped his shirt off and tossed it to the side. Again, she reached for him, and this time pulled him down and laid back so that he was on top of her.

She skimmed her nails along his back and placed light kisses along his neck. It felt marvelous to have him on top of her, and it didn't seem as though his leg would be much of a problem. Besides, she figured, he knew what to do to keep himself comfortable. He'd let her know.

House rolled over so that Cameron was on top and tugged her shirt off, tossing it to the side. She wore a baby blue, satin bra. "So you _do_ have a sexy underwear drawer," he drawled, playing with the strap before letting his hand travel down her stomach to rest on her inner thigh.

"It's … mmm… My normal underwear drawer." She leaned down for a series of short, sweet kisses, gasping when his hand traveled up slightly, rubbing against her core for a split second before going back to rest on her inner thigh. "And you called me a tease," she murmured.

She moved down his body, careful to keep her weight off of his thighs, and settled on his shins, placing a kiss just below his navel before unbuttoning and unzipping his jeans. As she pulled them off of him, she kicked her own shoes off and managed to get his off with his pants. He wore boxers, and they covered his thigh.

She'd be lying if she said that she wasn't the least bit interested in seeing the damage that had been done, but she wasn't about to make him take that step. The boxers he would remove on his own. From the end of the bed, she smiled at him. "You look good pantsless."

He gave a snort of laughter and nudged her with his foot. "I bet you look better," he hinted, nodding to her pants for her to take them off. She gave him the first devilish look he'd ever gotten from her and turned away from him as she slowly stepped out of her pants. He thought he might be in heaven… She was wearing baby blue, lacy panties that matched her bra. "You wear that kind of underwear on a daily basis?" he asked, his throat dry.

"Mmhmm," she answered, crawling back onto the bed and pressed a kiss to the center of his chest. "Are you going to have a hard time concentrating at work now?" she teased.

He smirked and rolled so that he was on top once more. "It's a good possibility," he allowed. He flipped open the clasp at the front of her bra and drew it off of her when she arched her back to aid him. "Of course, I can always close the blinds and have my wicked way with you on my desk if it gets unbearable."

She laughed and let her fingers dance just beneath the waistband of his boxers. "You can't lock the doors, though." Thrilling as the idea was, she knew it was never going to happen. Even House wasn't _that_ crazy.

He took in the sight of Cameron topless and almost let out a sigh of relief. She looked amazing, and he was starting to relish the benefits of being with someone younger than himself. "I was right," he said, his hand moving to cup her breast, one thumb caressing lightly over her nipple to draw a short gasp from her. "You do have gorgeous tits."

"Glad you like them," she managed, giving a low moan when he lowered his mouth to take a nipple into it. "Oh, God…"

"Greg," he replied before placing a kiss on the sensitive skin under her breast. "I'll admit the sounds are similar, but-"

"I really shouldn't be surprised that you even snark during sex," she cut him off, her hands slipping beneath his boxers to grab his backside and squeeze lightly. "And much as I enjoy it…" She moved one hand around to the front of him to grip his shaft. "I think I'd enjoy this a lot more."

He moaned and gripped her wrist, pulling her hand away from him and nipping at her palm. "As long as you're going to mix me up with The Man, I'd like to live up to the name," he murmured. Wilson had been right; if House wasn't going to tell Cameron how he felt, he'd find a way to show her.

"What do you mean…?"

House smirked and traced random patterns over her nipples, delighting in the fact that it made her squirm against him. "I'll bet that I can make you come for me at least three times."

"I'm not betting with you," she said breathlessly. "You always win."

"Exactly." The conversation was over after that, and he slowly worked his way down her body, finding which spots made her gasp, which made her giggle, and which made her moan. The area right around her navel was particularly sensitive, as were the undersides of her breasts and the inner parts of her thighs. He drew her panties off of her and admired his handy work.

Cameron was lying there with her eyes half-closed, her hair surrounding her head at odd angles from tossing her head back and forth every so often. Her hands were shaking when she reached for him to come back up to lie on top of her, and that made him smirk. "You're shaking," he pointed out needlessly before inserting a finger and gauging her reaction.

"I c-can't help… oh…" Her hips arched slightly to ask for more, and he was accommodating enough to provide it. He added another finger and moved them, watching attentively as she moved, as well. She couldn't reach his shoulders, so her nails dug into the covers beneath her. "Greg, _please_…"

"Hmmm?" he asked, shifting his index finger to brush against that one sweet spot that actually made her cry out. "Like that?"

"Stop teasing," she gasped through clenched teeth.

"Did you like it?" he continued innocently, brushing against it again, this time applying just a bit more pressure.

"Yes!" she exclaimed, arching to him. "I did. I do!"

"Oh. Good." He continued to tease her for a short while before giving in and moving his fingers purposefully, bringing her to an orgasm. She came almost silently, her hands gripping the covers as though she might fly off of the bed if she wasn't holding on.

Once she'd calmed down, he pulled his fingers out of her and waited for eye contact from her before he licked them. "One," he told her with a wink.

Her head dropped back onto the pillows beneath it and she moaned. "You were serious when you said you'd make me come at least three times," she panted, her legs shaking when he nipped at her inner thigh for her attention. When she looked down at him, she saw him waiting for eye contact from her again before he touched his tongue to her clitoris. She squealed his name in surprise, her hands gripping his hair as her hips bucked to his mouth.

She hadn't been expecting him to … oh… He worked wonders with that tongue. He was such a good kisser; she should have known he'd be an expert when it came to oral sex. When he closed his mouth over her clitoris and sucked lightly, she all but screamed. She was already sensitive enough from her first orgasm, and she could feel her second quickly approaching. As it washed over her, she cried out his name, the only thought running through her mind being, _Thank God for Greg House._

He sat back and licked his lips before working his way up her body, his own hands beginning to shake from holding himself back and listening to those wonderful sounds she made when she came. "Two," he whispered into her ear, nipping at the lobe when she moaned.

He slipped out of his boxers and pressed a kiss to her lips. "Condoms?"

"Top drawer," she said breathlessly, pointing to her bedside table. She couldn't reach it, and she didn't want to move right now anyway. House grabbed the box of condoms and gave one to her, placing the box back into the drawer. She opened the condom and threw the wrapper onto the table, grinning at him as she slowly rolled the barrier onto him, purposely making sure that her fingers caressed him as she did so.

He moaned and rolled so that Cameron was on top. He knew his leg would prevent him from being on top, especially after the pressure he'd put on it while pleasing her. Resting his hands on her hips, he guided her onto him, both of them letting out matching moans once they were joined. She was tight and hot, and he had to resist the urge to slam into her over and over again.

She, on the other hand, would have encouraged it. She was so sensitized that every little movement could be felt, and oh, but she loved it. Throwing a small smirk of her own at House, she tightened her muscles.

He gasped, actually gasped, and bucked his hips into her, making her cry out. "Kegel exercises are wonderful things," he grunted, his hands gripping her hips tightly as they moved together.

They challenged each other with every movement. She'd tighten her muscles, he'd grind against her clitoris; she'd move at a torturously slow pace, he'd thrust into her hard and fast. It never got boring and kept them both riding on the edge until, finally, they met that wonderful, natural high together, both of them exclaiming each other's name.

She collapsed on top of him, trying desperately to catch her breath. Her throat was raw from crying out, and her muscles ached in the best way possible.

"Three," he managed to tell her with a small smile.

She laughed and kissed him, staying right where she was, since she was comfortable there. "I think you lived up to the name."

"You've had sex with God?" he asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"I have now, apparently," she told him, finally rolling off of him and disposing of the condom in the trash can at her bedside. Her gaze drifted over to the clock and a lazy smile settled on her face. "Greg?"

"Mmm?"

"You left time to bask in the afterglow."

House grinned and pressed a kiss to her forehead, wrapping his arms around her. They had a half hour to spare.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer**: Nope... Not mine yet.

**A/N:**Prepare yourselves ... for a teensy bit of fluff. And thanks again for ALL of the awesome reviews. I got a livejoural account, and I now have the link to the House/Cameron group... However... I haven't got the first clue on how to go about setting the thing up. So, if anyone wants to help, that'd be great. Me + computers disaster. So yeah. Drop me an e-mail or something. Thanks! And enjoy.

**Chapter Eleven**

It was seven thirty when Cameron finally called her brother and told him it was okay to come over. She'd had every intention of calling at six, but _someone_ had managed to distract her and keep her in bed. By this point, she was almost tempted not to call Adam at all and blame it on a mortally wounded patient.

But House had smirked at her and told her that she had to call her brother; she'd promised. She had the feeling that he just wanted to see her smile through her now aching muscles and post-great-sex high. Ah, well. She'd managed.

She ordered a pizza right as there was a knock on her door, telling her that Angie had arrived with Adam. With a smile, she opened the door. "Hey, guys."

Angie, her younger sister, embraced her with a smile. "Someone's glowing. Where's the guy?"

"I'm not glowing," Cameron protested. "And he's in the bathroom. Just finished with a shower."

Adam flew past Cameron and settled on the couch, plugging in _Resident Evil_ immediately.

"Mom told you not to play that, Adam," Angie scolded.

"But, Angie!"

"Let him play it, Angie," Cameron said with a shrug. "The guy that's over might want to play with him."

"The guy that's over?" Angie quirked an eyebrow. "Does this guy have a name?"

"Maybe…" She leaned against the door and cringed as Adam shot a zombie's head off. "You remember the guy I was talking about a while ago? House?"

"Your boss?" Angie whispered, an astonished and delighted look on her face. She had dirt on Ally. All right. "You're sleeping with your boss!"

Cameron laughed and poked Angie in the stomach before leading the way to the kitchen. "I said he was over. I didn't say I slept with him."

"That doesn't mean you _didn't_ sleep with him, though. And you're glowing, which obviously means you _have_." She paused and studied her sister with a grin. "Are you two going to date or is this a one-time thing?"

"He's been staying with me while his apartment is being fumigated," Cameron explained. She cringed again when she heard the sounds of a zombie eating human flesh. "Adam, turn the volume down!" she called to him.

"Sorry, Ally!" The noises diminished.

"Anyway… I don't know if we're going to date… I don't even know where this whole thing stands." She traced a pattern absently on the counter-top, then shrugged. "We're playing it by ear, I guess."

"Don't tell me he's just a fling, Ally. I'd be really disappointed. You've been going on about this guy for a good year."

"I have not."

"You have. And if he's just a fling, I'm going to smack you."

House stood in the doorway to the kitchen, a towel over his neck and an eyebrow quirked. "If I'm just a fling, you won't have to smack her. I'll do it for you." He waved his cane in the air. "Or I can shove this up her-"

"Greg, meet Angela, my sister," Cameron cut in. "Angela, this is Greg House."

Angie waved her greeting. "Nice to meet you. Glad you finally hopped in bed with Ally."

Cameron groaned and held her hand to her eyes.

"Yeah. Me, too," House responded, smirking at Cameron. He kind of liked Cameron's sister so far.

Angie snorted. "So you're staying with her for how long?"

"Until the exterminator calls me back, which may never happen," he grumbled, going to the fridge and grabbing a small bottle of cranberry juice.

Angie frowned as House walked by her. "What happened to your leg?" she asked curiously.

Cameron's eyes widened and she opened her mouth to warn her sister off of the topic, but House went to her side and leaned against the counter casually. "What happened to your tact?" he asked flatly.

Cameron closed her eyes and wondered where she might be able to dig the nearest hole to crawl into and wait out the storm. Angie was a fireball; if someone insulted her, she threw it right back at them. House was just as bad, but he cut deep with his insults and always knew just where to hit to cause the most damage.

"He seems like a real sweetheart, Ally," Angie said sarcastically, frowning deeply. "Quite a winner you've got there."

"Did she tell you I'm a drug addict, too?" House asked excitedly. "I rock at popping pills." He took the Vicodin out of his pocket and shook it. "Want some? I know a guy who knows a guy."

"You're dating a pill-popper?" Angie asked incredulously. "Does Mom _know_ about this guy!"

"She knows we're having hot and steamy sex," House shot back quickly. "So I guess that means she does…"

"I wasn't asking you, honey," Angie snapped.

"_Honey_?"

"Enough!" Cameron exclaimed, stepping between the two of them. "Leave off, Angie. He suffers from chronic pain, which is why he takes Vicodin." She looked to House, pleading with her eyes for him to stop. "Greg, stop goading her. It'll only get worse."

"She-"

"Please," she begged. "Please don't do this right now."

He shrugged and took a swig of his cranberry juice, watching as Angie stomped toward the door in disgust. "A word, Ally?" she asked coldly, opening the door and waiting for her sister to step outside and talk to her.

Cameron rolled her eyes and brushed a kiss over House's lips. "I'll be right back," she told him with a sigh. "Adam's in the living room."

"Saw him," House replied. "I'll watch him play."

"Thank you." She followed her sister outside, closing the door behind her. "Let the rant begin," she mumbled as Angie turned to face her.

"You're sleeping with _him_? The man's a complete jerk! I ask a simple question and he blows up in my face about it!"

"Be fair, Angela!" Cameron exclaimed with a frown. "It's a sensitive subject with him. If you knew half of what he went through with it, you wouldn't have asked. How would you feel if he asked why you were a lesbian?"

"You told him!"

"No! I'm just using it as an example," she said calmly. "You would hate it if he threw something like that in your face, and that isn't even a handicap. He hasn't come to terms with his leg yet… He doesn't like people mentioning it."

"He should have his own personal disclaimer, then," Angie spat angrily.

"Angela, stop it!" Cameron begged. "Look, you may not like him, but _I do_. And that's what matters. You don't have to work with him, see him, or sleep with him. So it really isn't any of your business, is it?"

Angie was quiet and glared angrily at the door behind Cameron. "Does he make you happy?" she asked quietly. "Just answer me that and I'll leave it be."

Cameron contemplated the question for a while before answering. Did House make her happy? He often made her angry. He upset her a lot, and annoyed her many times. He pulled so many emotions out of her all at once. But did he make her happy? How could she know? "I haven't been with him long enough to answer that honestly, Angie."

"He'll break your heart, Ally."

"It's his heart to break," Cameron admitted in a whisper. "I need to get back in there. The pizza guy will be here soon. I need to pay him."

Angie frowned and nodded. "I'll be back around eleven to pick up Adam." With that, she left the apartment, leaving Cameron to take in a deep breath and let it out slowly before opening the door and going back inside.

The sight that she met made her smile.

House sat on the couch next to Adam, coaching him on how to properly shoot a zombie. "You've got to use the shotgun. It's the easiest way."

"But I only have, like, five bullets left."

House shook his head sadly. "Kid, haven't you ever heard of cheat codes?" he asked disappointedly. "Gimme the controller." Adam handed it over and House paused the game, punching in a series of buttons on the controller before handing it back to Adam. "Now un-pause it and you'll have unlimited shotgun ammo."

Adam un-paused the game and smiled widely. "Cool! Thanks!"

House winked at him and looked over at Cameron. "Sister leave?"

"Yeah… She'll pick Adam up around eleven."

"Eleven?" Adam asked, concentrating on his game. "Awesome."

Cameron laughed. "He's supposed to spend this time with me," she explained to House. "However, I take the back seat to video games."

"Well, yeah," House said, stating it like it was obvious. "Hello. They're _video games_." He stood and walked to her, nodding for her to come into the kitchen with him. She followed without a second thought. "Hope I didn't cause bad family vibes," he drawled.

"Don't worry about it," Cameron said with a shrug. "Angie's a firecracker. It would be nice if you wouldn't snap at everyone who asks about your leg… But it's not my place to say anything about it."

"Why not?" he asked calmly.

"It's not my leg," she responded honestly. "And therefore not my place." She picked up the washcloth out of the sink and rubbed a small stain off of the countertop. "So I take it you're getting along with Adam?"

"I usually get along with people who have mental problems," he stated simply. "Asperger or Down?"

Cameron smiled. "Nothing gets past you," she said with a sigh, tossing the cloth back into the sink. "He's got a mild case of Down Syndrome. He's a great kid, though. And he's in normal classes. My parents wouldn't let the schools put him in the special education programs. And it's a good thing. He gets counseling and tutoring and he keeps up in his classes."

"You sound really proud of him," House noticed. Hell, he'd be proud of the kid, too. Down Syndrome wasn't easy to overcome, and no one could ever fully overcome it. It was a genetic defect, not an infectious disease. There was no cure.

"I am," Cameron answered with a wide smile. "Adam's the greatest kid in the world."

A knock on the door interrupted them, and Cameron grabbed up the money that she'd left on the kitchen counter. She paid for the pizza and set it on the table before going into the kitchen for plates. "Pizza's here, Adam!" she called to him.

"All right! Is it pepperoni and ham?" he asked excitedly.

"Open it up and find out," she told him with a laugh.

House watched as she got the plates and set them on the table, and noticed how good Cameron was with her younger brother. A lot of older siblings might be resentful, having a younger brother with a debilitating defect. But not Cameron. Of course, what else could he expect? He sometimes doubted that she even had it in her to be so resentful. He went to the table and stood behind her. "Do I get a piece?" he pouted.

She looked over her shoulder at him and grinned. "Have you been a good boy? Only good boys get pizza."

"It's true!" Adam exclaimed. "She won't order pizza if Mom tells her that I was bad."

House smirked and rested his head on Cameron's shoulder. "You should know," he told her simply. "Have I been a good boy … or a bad boy?"

Cameron turned her head slowly to look at House, biting back a smile. "You've been good enough for a piece of pizza, I suppose."

Adam made a face at the two of them. "Ew, Ally. Is he your _boyfriend_?"

"Well-"

"Yeah," House said, purposely cutting Cameron off and reaching for a piece of pizza. "You okay with that, kid?"

"You're, like … old enough to be Dad."

"He is not," Cameron said, sounding as exasperated as she felt.

House, however, snorted. "But do you have a problem with me dating your sister? That's the question. I'm not dating her if you don't approve… That'd just be bad."

Adam looked at House with narrowed eyes before shrugging. "Okay. You can date her. But only 'cause you know about cheat codes."

House looked at Cameron as he chewed on a pepperoni. "You see that? Cheat codes are the secret to the meaning of life."

Adam took his pizza into the living room and switched off the game, turning on the television instead. "Can I watch a movie, Ally?" he asked over his shoulder.

"Sure. They're in the drawer under the PlayStation." Cameron looked at House and leaned against the table, taking a small bite of her pizza. "You're my boyfriend, huh?"

"I figured it was fair," he stated, leaning next to her. "I mean… I solve your problems, use your shower, and have sex with you. Doesn't that qualify me?"

Cameron laughed and nudged him. "You're such an ass."

"Yeah." He saw Adam grab up the movie _The Princess Bride_. "Kid, if you put that in, I'll smack you with my cane."

Adam squealed with laughter.

"He thinks I'm joking," he muttered to Cameron. "I'm not joking."

"You smack him with your cane and I'll kick you out of my bed," she said sweetly.

"How come you have a cane, anyway?" Adam asked from the living room, sorting through the movies.

Cameron cringed and waited for the fallout. Two mentions of his leg in one day? That couldn't be good…

"Because I have a limp," House answered blandly.

"Well, why've you got a limp? Did you get bit by a dog?" Adam looked up from the movies and over at House. "My friend Mark got bit by a dog and he had a limp for a whole week."

"I got bit by a bug," House responded after a short pause. "It made all of the blood go to my thigh and stick together like glue."

Adam's eyes were wide. "What kind of bug?" he asked in horror. "I hate bugs."

"I do too, kid. But don't worry. This bug can't get you."

"How do you know?"

"I'm a doctor," House answered with a smirk. "I know everything." He took a bite of his pizza and nodded to the movies. "Come on. Pick a good movie."

"If you cuddle with Ally during the movie, I'm gonna barf," Adam warned.

"That's okay," House replied with a grin. "If I cuddle with Ally, _I_ might barf."

"Hey!" Cameron exclaimed with a laugh, hitting House's chest. "I'm not that bad."

"But you have _cooties_..."

Adam held up _Hook_. "Is this okay?" he asked.

"That one's a lot better than _The Princess Bride_," House responded, putting his empty plate down on the kitchen table. He took Cameron's and put it down, too. "Come on," he said, nodding toward the couch. "Let's go make your brother barf."

She smiled and followed him to the couch, cuddling into his left side as the movie started. If someone had told her days ago that she'd be cuddling with Greg House as they watched a movie with her younger brother, she would have laughed at them and then told them to go to the psych ward. But this was nice. It was too nice to take advantage of, she thought as she cuddled closer, biting her bottom lip to keep her smile minimal when House's arm tightened around her shoulders. She knew this wouldn't last… But she'd cherish it while it did.

They stayed that way for then entire movie, interrupted only when Adam got scared and felt the need to sit in front of Cameron on the couch. She smiled and stroked his hair soothingly, reminding him that it was only a movie and that Captain Hook wouldn't come get him in the middle of the night.

House marveled at her. She was the epitome of a mother, and he couldn't help but wonder why she wasn't even the least bit upset that she had a sibling who got much more attention that she ever would have as a child. Of course, by the time Adam was born, she would have been starting high school… So maybe it really made sense that she'd be so motherly.

Once the movie ended, Adam jumped up to turn off the DVD player and the television before sitting in one of the chairs. He looked at the clock and tapped on his knees. "Angie's gonna be here soon," he said matter-of-factly.

House frowned. "It's only ten-thirty…"

"She's always early," Adam said. "She'll be here fifteen minutes before she has to be because she doesn't like to be late." He picked at the threads on the chair and sighed. "But I like spending time with Ally because Ally's the cool one."

Cameron smiled and sat up. "I _am_ the cool one, aren't I?" She yawned and stretched. "I'll see what I can do about freeing up a night next week," she promised. "We'll have a sleepover and watch tons of movies."

Adam smiled brightly. "Really? You promise!"

"You bet." There was a knock on the door and Cameron checked the clock. Right on time. She started to stand to get the door, but House stood instead.

"I need to stretch out my leg, anyway," he used as an excuse. In all honesty, he just wanted to see how outraged Angie would be when he made himself right at home and answered the door. He wasn't disappointed in the least; the woman who looked like a Cameron-clone, but with shorter, choppier hair, fumed when he answered.

"I need to pick up Adam," she snapped.

He opened the door wider. "Hey, kid. Your sister's here to get you," he said, nodding toward the very pissed of woman standing in the doorway.

Adam gave Cameron a hug and a kiss on the cheek, and then dragged his feet all the way to the door. Before he left, House handed him a piece of paper. Adam opened it, looked at it, and smiled brightly. "Thanks!" he exclaimed before running to the car.

Angie left without saying goodbye, and House shut the door behind her.

"What did you give him?" Cameron asked, confused.

"I wrote down some more cheat codes."

Cameron laughed and pulled him to her for a slow kiss. "It's official," she said with a sigh. "You have a new best friend."

"I needed one," House replied solemnly. "Hanging out with Wilson and talking about chicks was just getting old. I needed someone young and immature to play video games with." His eyes slid over her. "Oh, wait…"

She looked at him with a small grin and crossed her arms over her chest. "I hope you like floors."

"Gonna do me on one? That's hot, Cameron."

"Well, you'll be sleeping on one," she said sweetly.

"You're going to knock me out _cold_?" he asked with wide eyes. "You were good, Allison… But I don't know if you were quite that good."

The grin melted off of her face and she sauntered up to him slowly. "I could … feasibly … prove you wrong," she told him quietly, trailing her finger along the waistband of his jeans.

He took in a quick breath and stared at her, his eyes darkened with lust and intense concentration. "I might let you do that." He took her hand and placed a single kiss in the center of her palm. "And we both know how often I let people prove me wrong."


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** I know you're NEVER going to believe this, but they still aren't mine.

**A/N:** A huge thanks to my betas, **CamFan4Ever** and **Jewel Tanka**. And I'm still looking for at least one more beta if anyone's interested. ;) Yes, I'm a perfectionist. No, I won't apologize!  
Lovies!  
-KellyAnnie

**Chapter Twelve**

Early in the morning, House awoke with a start. He looked at the clock and sighed angrily. It was only four in the morning. He'd been asleep for less than three hours, but in that time, he'd had a dream that really didn't sit well with him. Slowly, so as not to wake Cameron, he moved the covers to get out of bed and get his Vicodin when he realized that Cameron had put his pain medication on the bedside table once more.

So he reached over and took two before getting out of bed, pulling on the pants that had been tossed on the floor, and going to sit in the living room. He wasn't going to lie in bedwith Cameron and risk the possibility of waking her up, even if he knew the chance was slim. He needed to think.

Grabbing the Gameboy out of his coat pocket, he sat in a chair and put his leg up, frowning as he considered the dream he'd had.

_He was at a party. With Stacy. She'd asked him to dance with her, just like old times. He reminded her that in the old times, he still had two functioning legs. But she dragged him onto the dance floor anyway; whatever Stacy wants, Stacy gets. He swayed with her, refusing to even attempt to dance. It would hurt too much and he'd collapse. And with everyone around him, he refused to embarrass himself._

_But she pushed. She pushed, and she pushed, and she pushed to get him to try and dance. So he tried. And his leg gave out and he fell. Stacy stood there, looking down at him with disappointment, and everyone around started giving him pitying looks. _That's right_, he thought bitterly. _Look at the cripple on the floor. Don't bother to try and help.

_He attempted to stand three times before finally giving up, deciding to remain on the floor in pain as everyone simply walked by him. He ought to be used to this by now. And then, someone came up behind him and put their arms under his, working with difficulty to pull him up. The person even grabbed his cane and handed it to him. He figured it was Wilson, but when he turned to the person, it was none other than Cameron._

_She didn't give him the pitying look that everyone else had. She just looked at him curiously. "Wilson asked me to come tonight," she'd told him, referring to the party. "I didn't want to. But you'd never asked…"_

"_I didn't want to come."_

"_But with Stacy, you came," she pointed out quietly._

"_In all fairness, you never asked me."_

"_I didn't want to ask you to go somewhere you didn't want to go. It wouldn't be fair."_

_He was quiet and tapped his cane on the floor, painfully aware that Stacy was watching the exchange. "She saved my life," he said with a careless shrug._

"_Against your wishes." She kept her replies soft and non-argumentative. It was as if she was simply stating fact. Which, really, she was._

"_She did what she thought was right."_

"_Against your wishes," she repeated._

"_What would you have done?" he asked with narrowed eyes. This was Cameron; she would have done the exact same thing._

"_I would have let you go," came her barely whispered reply. "I'm not selfish enough to keep you here against your will; to make you suffer for the rest of your life just so that I could have a few more years with you."_

It was at that point that he'd woken up and come into the living room. He couldn't help but wonder if that was the sort of reply he'd really get from Cameron. She really wasn't as weak as he tried to make her out to be, and seeing her with Adam last night had affirmed that fact for him. She stuck to her guns. She had a heart big enough to love all of New Jersey if it had to. It made him sick and amazed at the same time.

He turned off his Gameboy and tossed it onto the table when he continued to die in the game. He couldn't concentrate; the dream bothered him that much. He didn't even usually remember his dreams. Why remember this one? Why _have_ this one?

His thoughts were interrupted by a very sleepy-looking Cameron coming into the living room and sitting on the floor next to his chair. She'd tossed on a robe. "What's wrong?" she asked, her voice husky not only from sleep, but because her throat was raw from last night.

The thought gave him a satisfied feeling. "Why would something be wrong?"

Cameron looked at the clock, then back at him. "You're wide awake at four in the morning," she stated plainly. "You're not even wide awake at eight in the morning. What's wrong?" she repeated the question.

He considered her for a few moments, remembering the dream as vividly as if it had been real. Hesitantly, and with his eyes cast to his cane instead of her face, he asked her, "What were the circumstances surrounding your husband's death?"

"The… What?" she asked, sleep still ruling her mind as she tried to wrap it around why he would ask that. "How do you mean?"

"The circumstances," he repeated. "Was the death because they couldn't fight the cancer anymore? He refused treatment? Why? _Why_ did he die?"

"I told you…" she said, worried more about House's behavior than the questions he was asking. She could answer them almost painlessly now. "Cancer metastasized to his brain, and-"

"Yes, I know that. But what _caused_ his death?"

Cameron was silent for a long while, looking blankly at the coffee table. "He didn't want any more chemo," she said quietly. "He was too tired. He said he just couldn't fight anymore." She paused, drawing her legs to her chest andloosely wrapping her armsaround them. "I couldn't blame him."

"You didn't want him to continue the treatment?" House asked with a frown.

"Of course I wanted him to continue treatment," she said with a small laugh. "But it was his decision to make, and he wascompletely sanewhen he made it. I wasn't going to go against his wishes. It was his body and his life and his pain. He had to live with it; I didn't."

House was quiet, shocked. His dream … it had been right. He looked at her in astonishment and placed a hand on top of her head to get her attention. She looked up at him and gave him a small smile. He realized that she wasn't going to question why he asked about her husband's death, and his respect for her grew immensely.

"Come here," he told her softly, holding out his hand to her. She took his hand and he led her to sit in his lap, placing most of her weight on his left leg and letting her legs dangle off of the right side of the chair. He held her close, placing his forehead to hers and capturing her lips in a soft kiss. She then rested her head on his shoulder and dozed off once more.

"No one should be as perfect as you are," he whispered.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next time Cameron awoke, it was due to a very stiff back. She glanced at the clock and saw that she'd been asleep on House's lap for the past five hours. His left leg must be asleep. She wondered if he'd noticeher gettingup. But she could ignore her bladder no longer and decided to take the risk of waking him as she slowly disentangled herself from his arms and went into the bathroom.

She had wanted to ask him about his question early this morning, but had refrained from doing so. It wasn't that she didn't _want_ to know … but something told her that asking wouldn't be a good idea and that she wouldn't exactly get a real answer even if she'd bothered to ask.

Coming out of the bathroom, she considered putting actual clothing on, but quickly changed her mind. Why bother? She didn't have to go into work today. It was Saturday, thank God. She could lounge around in her robe for a few more hours at least.

When she went back into the living room, she was met by House's glare. "You moved," he accused.

She smiled. "Forgive me. I needed to attend to womanly things. I didn't think you'd want me doing that on your lap."

He made a face at her. "Ew. Womanly things." He grabbed his cane and pushed himself out of the chair, limping slowly to the kitchen. His right leg was stiff, but not in too much pain, and his left leg was finally awake. It had fallen asleep from having Cameron lounging on it for hours. Not that _he_ minded. His _leg_ did. "Would a womanly thing include going to the grocery store and getting big kid drinks?" he asked. "Because then, you could still do that and I wouldn't have to help. Because it would be a womanly thing, and therefore make me unfit to do it."

Cameron snorted and followed him into the kitchen. "Grocery shopping is a unisex thing," she stated matter-of-factly, leaning against the counter with her arms crossed loosely over her chest. "If I go, you go."

His eyes roamed her body and he smirked lecherously. "You going looking like that? Because then, I'll go. I will go and I will enjoy it immensely."

"I bet you would." She opened the fridge and grabbed the soy milk, pouring herself a glass. "I _suppose_ we could go grocery shopping, even though there are plenty of leftovers in here." She put the soy milk back and took a sip, turning to face House. "But I'm not going dressed like this, and you have to go halfsies on it."

"How lame. They're not even my groceries," he sniffed.

"You want them? You help pay for them. That's just the way it goes," she replied, patting him on the head.

"You realize that if we go grocery shopping together, people will figure out that I'm not just sleeping over for a while," he warned. "They'll figure out that we're seeing each other."

"If I had a problem with people figuring it out, I wouldn't have slept with you in the first place," she said with a quirked brow. "Do _you_ have a problem with people knowing?"

"Certain people, yes," he answered without hesitation. "Wilson can know. Cuddy can know. You can even quack to the other two ducklings. But no one beyond that. Well, besides your family. Obviously, they can know, too."

Cameron was quiet for a few tense moments before setting her glass in the sink and leaving the room without a word. She went to her bedroom and grabbed clothing out of her drawers, tossing it carelessly on the bed. Soundlessly, she started picking up the clothing that had been tossed all over the room last night and threw it in the laundry basket before beginning to pull on her clothing for the day.

House came into the room as she was slipping into a thong. He closed his eyes and shook his head to clear it. "You're angry," he said simply, tapping his cane agitatedly on the floor.

"I'm not angry," she said, her jaw tensing when she spoke. She bent down and picked up a black bra that she'd chosen for the day and put it on before turning to face him. "Why would I be angry?"

"You're _clenching_, Cameron."

"I am not clenching!"

"You are. You're standing there in your bra and a thong and you're clenching at me. Not that you don't look incredibly sexy doing it," he allowed with a nod of his head. "But I'd like to at least know _why_ you're doing it." He wasn't as stupid as he was letting on. He knew why she was pissed off. He just wanted to hear her say it so that he could tell her exactly why no one should know.

She turned around and grabbed her jeans, pulling them on and buttoning and zipping them quickly. "I don't understand why people shouldn't know," she said with a disconcerted sigh. "Are you ashamed because of the age difference? Because most men might flaunt that."

House rolled his eyes and leaned heavily on his cane. "What the hell do you think would happen if word got out at the hospital that you were dating me?" he asked with a frown. "I sign your paychecks and write your reviews. Other doctors would think you were sleeping your way to the top."

"Who cares what they think?" she snapped, pulling a black sweater on. "It doesn't matter to me. I don't plan on spending the rest of my career at PPTH. I'm done there in another year. After that, I won't see any of those doctors again. I can have you or Cuddy write my recommendation letters."

"Cuddy would have to fire both of us if it got out around the hospital," House said bluntly.

"I can't believe I'm arguing about this with you just because you won't come out to get some damned _groceries_, Greg," she snapped, grabbing her purse off of the dresser and checking to be sure that everything she needed was inside of it. "No one would notice that we were a couple just because we were getting groceries. You can explain that you're staying here until the terminator calls." She zipped up the purse and left the bedroom, pulling her coat on in the living room.

"I can't believe you're getting angry about this!" House exclaimed with a laugh. "I could have been joking."

"But you _weren't_, House."

_From 'Greg' to 'House' in two seconds_, he thought disbelievingly. "No. I wasn't. But I _could _have been." He took in Cameron's angry stance and blew out his breath. "Look, I'll go throw a shirt on and come with you."

"No," she said, opening the door. "Stay here. I'll be back in a little bit."

Before he had the chance to argue with her, she'd slammed the door and left. He stood there, awed, before turning to face the empty apartment. There was no way he was staying here while Cameron was out being bitchy.

He went to the bedroom and changed before locking the door from the inside and going to hop on his bike. She could go ahead and go to the damned grocery store. He was going to Wilson's.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer**: I am not currently in the possession of these characters. But if I have to go through hell, high water, and monkey feces, I will get it! As God as my witness, I shall... Ah, forget it.

**A/N:** Thanks again to my great betas. :) Sorry about the typos in the last chapter. I edited it on here instead of on my Microsoft Word, so... Yeah. lol

**Chapter Thirteen**

Cameron slammed her car door and stood beside the car, staring at the Wegman's Supermarket that she'd pulled into for the groceries. She shouldn't have yelled… House was right, after all. If the rest of the hospital got wind of their current status, they'd both be terminated on the spot, no questions asked. It pissed her off that he was right, and made her even angrier to realize that she'd completely overreacted.

How typical.

With a sigh, she made her way into the store and grabbed a buggy. She really had needed to shop; she was just putting it off until she absolutely had to do it. She was bad about that.

As she made her way through the aisles, she let her mind wander. After all, she'd been shopping for her own groceries for over ten years. It was pretty much an automatic pilot task now.

Her thoughts wandered, also automatically, to Greg House. Elusive, amazing, destructive, and more than likely horribly bad for her. But she couldn't help being attracted to him. It was almost as though he were the sun and she were Mercury; she was just pulled in by his gravitational force, and there was no way out of it. Maybe he'd been right when he'd told her that she needed him because he was damaged. And she hated that possibility, but it was there, nonetheless.

As she walked through the freezer section, she glanced at the different sorts of meat available and, after a little debate, picked up a package of steaks. She didn't eat red meat, but she knew that House did. Maybe she'd make him something special, and… Oh, Christ, who was she trying to kid? She couldn't stay angry at him, which made her angry at herself. What if he did something to seriously piss her off? Like … cheat on her? Would she be able to stay angry at him then?

Cameron shook her head and tossed the small package of steak into the cart. She'd cross the angry bridge when she came to it. Why bother beforehand? House was completely unpredictable. She had no idea what he would do in the future or how long "being with him" would even last. For all she knew, her childish reaction earlier would push him far away, and they'd revert back to snark and awkwardness at work. The thought of that was pure torture to her. She couldn't lose him so quick now that she'd finally gotten him.

And she didn't expect a miracle, either. That would be completely naïve. What she expected was for him to stay the same old House. Maybe she could make him a happier man. Maybe she could get him to take a few less pills each day or get him to try a little harder to do the physical therapy that he really did need for his leg. It would also be nice to know that he wasn't mixing alcohol with his pills. But she didn't expect to change his personality. She didn't _want_ to change is personality. She loved him the way he was: snarky, bitter, and arrogant as all hell.

As she passed the alcohol, his words sprang up in her mind. _"Would a womanly thing include going to the store and getting some big kid drinks?"_ She debated with herself whether or not she'd pick up some alcohol. She rarely actually drank it; she was more of a social drinker, not an alcoholic. But a thought worked its way into her mind, and then she smirked to herself. Whoever said that she wasn't manipulative in the slightest was wrong beyond their wildest dreams. She turned down the aisle and grabbed up a couple bottles of wine.

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House pounded on Wilson's door, storming inside when he answered it. Wilson's eyes widened and he watched House pace the floor and rant without a greeting.

"She's insane!" he exclaimed. "She has no hindsight. She doesn't bother to think about things before she turns into a complete _dragon_ and breathes fucking _fire_ at my head." He turned and faced his friend. "Are you _completely_ sure there's no way I can stay here? Those exterminators still haven't called! I will sleep on the _floor_, for Christ's sake."

Wilson blinked a few times, staying completely silent, before laughing uproariously. "House, why the hell are you here?" he asked between guffaws.

House glared at Wilson and found a box to sit on. "I fought with Cameron this morning and I don't want to stay there now."

Shaking his head, Wilson crossed to sit on the box next to the one House was currently occupying. "You fight with Cameron all the time."

"No, we argue in a friendly and professional manner." He stared out the bay window of Wilson's house. "How did you afford this place with three wives that you have to pay?"

"We aren't talking about my alimony payments right now," Wilson responded with a scowl. "What the hell are you doing here? Go … intimidate her or something."

"I _can't_ anymore," he said angrily. "She's un-intimidatable."

"That's definitely not a word."

"Well, it is now." He blew out a breath and tapped his cane on the floor. "I had sex with her," he admitted quickly. "And I may have mentioned to her younger siblings that I was her boyfriend. And we may have discussed it a bit. But now we've argued about something completely _ridiculous_ and I don't want to talk to her right now."

"You're having sex with her."

"I _did_ have sex with her."

"Like … once, right?"

His gaze slid over to Wilson before he sighed. "Like … three or four times," he mumbled. "But that's not the _point_ right now, Jimmy-"

"You're sexing up Allison Cameron!" Wilson exclaimed with glee. "And you're her _boyfriend_."

"Wilson, I swear to God, I'll shove this cane up your ass."

"It's just so _cute_, House," he gushed dramatically. "And you've already had your first argument! So when's the wedding?"

"Goddammit, Jim…"

"I know a good planner."

"Or three."

"Of course, the only places I know of are Jewish synagogues, so you'll have to find your own _place_ for the wedding-"

"Hey, Jimmy? Fuck off. I'm being angry right now." He frowned and dropped his cane to the floor, rubbing his eyes. "She wanted me to go grocery shopping with her."

"And…?"

"And if someone from the hospital were there, they'd question it and we'd both be fired on Monday," House snapped. "What's _with_ you and her? Neither of you seem to realize that."

"House… You're staying with her right now. I think just about everyone knows that. A lot of the doctors were betting that she'd throw you out on your ass and then quit. Cuddy and I were betting against the nay-sayers and that you two would resolve all of the sexual tension. Anyway… Anyone who may have seen you two at the grocer's would know that you have to go with her to buy what the two of you need for food."

He glared at his friend and bent down to pick up his cane. "Well, you're loads of help."

"Wait. Why did you argue?"

"She wants people to _know_." He sighed angrily and then corrected himself. "She said she didn't mind people at the hospital knowing."

"And that's why you two argued?"

"_Yes_!" House exclaimed. "She doesn't seem to realize that if everyone in the hospital knew, we'd _both_ lose our jobs and she may was well forget any future fellowships."

"I'm … pretty sure she's not about to skip through the hallways passing out little Valentine's cards about the two of you getting together," Wilson replied, amused. "Does she even speak with any of the other doctors in the hospital?"

"I don't know," House snapped. After Wilson gave him a look, he rolled his eyes. "No, she doesn't."

"So basically, what you're saying is that you're completely paranoid about people finding out that the two of you are dating." Wilson paused and looked around his still-empty home. "I know you'll hate me for asking, but I have to ask it. Are you more worried that other doctors will find out or that Stacy will find out?"

"Stacy's gone," he replied with a frown. "If she were here, I'd rub it in her damned face."

Wilson frowned thoughtfully and hesitated before voicing his thoughts on the whole situation. "Greg… I need to know. Are you in love her?"

"No. She's a flaming bitch."

His friend let out an exasperated sound. "Not Stacy. Cameron."

House stilled, taking in a deep breath. Was he in love Cameron? Yes. Would he admit it out loud? That was the challenge. Because saying it out loud made it more real than ever, and that wasn't something he was quite ready to allow. "I love her," he said softly.

"I already know that," Wilson said with a small smile. "But in love… There's a difference, you know."

"After seeing you through three marriages, I kind of figured it out," he snarked quickly. And that was the truth. Wilson loved to love and be loved. He didn't do the falling in love crap that everyone always talked about. He married because he loved the women at the time. Probably still loved all of them. But none of them had been able to keep his attention.

"Look, I'm trying to be the good guy here." Wilson stood and shifted his weight from one foot to another. "Just go back to Cameron's apartment. You don't even have to apologize for upsetting her, just explain your actions."

"That'll go over well. 'Cameron. Here's the thing. I'm not sorry for pissing you off and I won't be. But I just wanted to let you know that I'd really like to keep my job.' I'm sure she'll throw herself into my arms in happiness after that one."

Wilson snorted. "Or she'll kick you out on your currently homeless ass."

House opened his mouth to retort when he heard something familiar. It was the squeaking sound of a hamster wheel. Son of a bitch… "Yeah, about that. Have the exterminators called _you_, by any chance?"

"Why would they call me?"

"Either you got a hamster, despite the fact that you hate rodents, or Steve McQueen is down the hallway."

Wilson looked like a deer caught in the headlights. _Busted_, House thought with a smirk. "Someone's been a very bad boy," he chided, following the noise of the hamster wheel. Down the hallway and two doors to the right was a cage sitting on a desk. Inside was his rat. "Is my place roach-free?" he asked, turning to face Wilson, who had followed him. "I mean, I'd like to know. Since the exterminators apparently call the friends of their clients now."

Wilson laughed nervously and scratched the back of his neck. "It was ready to move back into Thursday evening."

"I can't believe you made me stay with Cameron any longer than I had to," he groused, sticking a finger through the cage and petting the rat under its chin. "Aren't you supposed to be a friend?"

"You're dating her!" Wilson exclaimed with a smile. "I'm a damned good friend."

House rolled his eyes and made his way to the front door. "I'll be back later for the rat."

Wilson watched his friend leave and felt unease settle in his stomach. He hoped, sincerely hoped, that House wouldn't do something rash just because he had his place back.

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When House got back to the apartment, Cameron was there putting groceries away and singing softly with the radio. He listened for a moment, surprised to find that she wasn't completely tone deaf. By no means was she a great singer, but she could carry a tune.

He went into the kitchen and cleared his throat to let her know that he was there. She turned, gave him a small smile, and returned to her task. "My apartment's done," he told her simply.

She felt a small jolt in her stomach and faltered slightly as she placed a bottle of wine in the fridge. "Oh… Are you going back today then?"

"I was planning on going back later tonight." He once more tapped his cane on the ground, thinking of how he'd say what was on his mind. "After dinner?" he asked. "I'll need your help… I've got to pick up my rat."

Cameron's brow furrowed and she turned to face him. "I thought they said it was all right to leave him there."

"My oh-so-wonderful friend James Wilson played a little trick on us," he said, moving closer to Cameron. "You see… He called the exterminators and told them to do a full extermination of the apartment and took Steve in the meantime. He also changed my contact number to his cell phone. Wasn't that sweet of him?"

"Wilson?" she asked, dumbfounded. "Wilson did that?"

"He wanted to see us together, so he twisted the stakes in his favor." He took a strand of Cameron's hair and played with the bottom of it. "Can't say I hate him for it." He dropped the hair and let his hand drop to his side. "I was abrasive this morning," he acknowledged without an apology.

"I was childish, so I suppose we're even." She didn't apologize, either. And she wouldn't any time soon.

"I suppose we are." His eyes skimmed over the groceries she'd bought and he pursed his lips. "Wine?"

She shrugged and put the second bottle that she'd bought in the fridge. "I figured I'd buy some big kid drinks," she said with a grin.

"Aww, how cute. Allison's all grown up." He effectively dodged the hand that attempted to swat at him. "Do I get some of the big kid drinks?"

"How many Vicodin have you had today?"

His eyes narrowed dangerously. "Three," he answered honestly. "I've had three since four this morning."

Cameron looked at the clock. It was now one in the afternoon. She was pleasantly surprised. "You can have one more pill before four and then I'll let you have big kid drinks with dinner," she compromised.

He glared at her. "You sound like an over-protective parent," he warned.

"No," she argued. "I sound like someone who cares and worries about you." She grabbed the belt loop of his jeans and tugged to bring him to her before brushing her lips over his. "One pill before four. Wine with dinner."

"Stay with me tonight," he shot back, his eyes searching her face. "Stay with me at my place and I'll do it."

"I'm all yours," she replied with a smile. Part of her was surprised at just how true that statement was.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:** They still aren't mine. But if I take out a big enough student loan...

**Chapter Fourteen**

House's apartment, Cameron had decided, was absolutely gorgeous. Yes, it was cluttered, but that could be cleaned up. Well … if he'd let her. Unique carpets were lying haphazardly on the wood floors, and the piano in the corner made her want to let out a little squeal. She'd seen his apartment before, but she hadn't really taken any of it in. "This place is huge," she said quietly.

"I figured I ought to get a place that matches me," he answered her with a smirk, tossing his bag into a chair and placing Steve in his previous spot on his coffee table.

She gave a snort of laughter and resisted the urge to go and pick up the bag and put everything where it should go. "I don't ever recall screaming, 'It's huge!' while we were having sex," she said with a quirked eyebrow.

"Screaming my name six or seven times told me what you weren't saying." He took the wine out of her hands and set it in the fridge, staying there for a short while to catch his breath. With Cameron around, he was able to ignore some of the pain in his leg and take fewer pills. However, the consequence of reducing his intake so quickly was the wonderful feeling of detoxing.

"You okay?"

"Perfect," he breathed out, straightening.

"You're sweating…"

"Cameron, I said I was fine," he snapped, wiping some of the said sweat off of his forehead. "You're a doctor and you ought to know that it's a bad idea for me to decrease my drug intake by half in less than three days."

"I'm not _making_ you do it," she pointed out. "It would be nice if you could make it through the detox. But I'm not going to make you."

"You're one passive-aggressive bitch, you know that?" he asked, meaning the statement as a compliment.

"Mmhmm," she said with a smile, kissing his cheek. "Why don't you sit down? I can straighten up-"

"You're not straightening anything up," he warned, poking her shin with his cane. "This, Allison, is a bachelor pad. It shall remain sacred until the day I marry. Now, this may be never, and this may be within the next year. Either way, it stays beautiful and messy until that day. Understood?"

She laughed and held up her hands in surrender. "I understand. Keep my female touches off of the bachelor pad."

"You can, however, put your female touches all over the bachelor. That's allowed," he said with a nod.

"So when I decorate your belly with little flowers, you're not going to kill me?"

"You decorate my belly with little flowers and I'll decorate your ass with a cane," he said flatly. A picture entered his mind of him spanking her and he grinned. "You know what? Actually? Go ahead and decorate my belly with flowers."

"Kinky bastard."

"I know who my dad is. I'm a kinky _jerk_. Clarification is wonderful." He sat down on the couch and put his leg up on the coffee table. He moved his head to motion for Cameron to come sit next to him, which she did without question. There was no denying that he sort of liked that about her. It used to annoy the hell out of him that she listened and obeyed some things without asking about them, but now… Now it seemed endearing.

Cameron rested her head on House's shoulder, draping her arm carelessly around his waist. "Will you snark at me if I tell you that I'm proud of you?"

"Yes," he answered ruthlessly. "I will mock the hell out of you."

She smiled and snuggled into him anyway. "I'll live with it. I'm proud of you."

"For being able to get it up five times in one day? I'm pretty proud of that, too."

She poked him in the side. "The pills, Greg."

"They're not Viagra, if that's what you're trying to say. I'm offended!"

Again, she poked him. "For lowering the intake. I'm proud of you for lowering your Vicodin intake and not complaining for the most part. And for not running out and getting drunk at the first knowledge that I had no alcohol."

"Yeah, well… Don't get too sappy on me. I might kick you out."

"Even if I promised apology sex?"

He was quiet and rested his head on the back of the couch. "Too much sap can only be made up with amazing fellatio."

"Then I ought to feel free to be as sappy as I want to be. I've heard I'm pretty good at it."

"Being sappy? I noticed."

"I give great head," she said with a sweet smile before getting up and going to the bathroom, leaving a stunned and amused House in her wake.

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By Monday morning, Cameron thought she might not make it to work. Her body was screaming for her to throw in the towel and crawl back into bed. House was exhausting, physically and emotionally. A forty-five year old man should _not_ have a libido like his. Not that she didn't like it. She loved it. It truly catered to her more sexual side. But damn… She was almost ready to tell him enough was enough.

She got to work at her usual, prompt, nine AM and went straight to the coffee-maker. Caffeine was the first thing on her mind. She'd gotten up earlier than she'd wanted to, though not so early as five. After all, she figured, she was getting plenty of exercise without the jogging now. She yawned as Foreman and Chase entered the diagnostics room.

"Someone's beat," Foreman said with a grin. "How was the weekend with House?"

"Exhausting," she admitted. They'd probably figure she meant that she'd fought constantly with him. Let them think that. House had told her that she could let them know about the relationship, but she wanted to drag them along on her little string.

"Lots of yelling?" Chase asked, his grin matching Foreman's.

"Mmm…" She watched the coffee maker with a pathetic whimper. "Why can't it go _faster_?"

Chase looked at Foreman and held out his hand. He'd bet that Cameron and House would most definitely not sleep together over the weekend. Foreman grudgingly reached into his pocket for his wallet.

Cameron's gaze slid over to them and she smirked. "You two start a betting pool behind my back, didn't you?" she asked.

"That's the way things work around here," Chase said, smiling brightly as Foreman handed over two hundred dollars. "He bet that you two would have sex over the weekend. I bet against him."

The coffee was finally made and she all but jumped for joy as she poured herself a cup. "And just what makes you think that you won?" she asked, blowing to cool the coffee.

Chase paused and his face went slack. "You didn't…"

"Oh, we did," she said with a smile. "We did a lot. And it was great." She took a long swig of the coffee and let out a satisfied sigh. "I love caffeine…"

Foreman let out a loud laugh and took his money back from Chase. "Give it up," he said, putting his hand out.

"I can't believe you actually got nasty with House," Chase said, shaking his head as he dropped money into Foreman's hand.

"I can," the neurologist replied, stuffing the money into his wallet and his wallet back into his pants pocket. "It was bound to happen sooner or later. Does Wilson know? I'll bet he'll be ecstatic. He had three hundred riding on this."

"That isn't fair," Cameron stated plainly. "He's got insider information. He's House's best friend."

"You two hop in the sack and you still call him by his last name?" Chase asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Would you rather she called me Greggy-poo?" a voice came from the doorway. "I'm sure it could be arranged… Though, she might puke every time she says it. Hell, I'd puke every time she said it." House went straight for the coffee as well, and Cameron handed him his usual cup.

"Here before ten again," Foreman noted. "I'm impressed."

"I would have come in later, but someone woke me up when they left this morning." He glared at Cameron, delighting in the shock that settled on the other two ducklings' faces. They probably couldn't believe that he was discussing this in front of him. He had his reasons, though… Namely, disgusting the hell out of them. "What the hell did you have to leave at seven for? I woke up uncomfortable."

Cameron snorted and took a seat at the table. "I needed to get a change of clothes. I wasn't coming in today in jeans and a tee shirt. I'll make it up to you later." She got a small thrill when she heard Chase cough uncomfortably before she noticed a file inHouse's hand and nodded to it. "Got a case?"

"Oh, you. Always wanting to work." He turned to the dry erase board and hung his cane on the side, writing down the symptoms as he explained the basics of the case. "Twenty two year old male, diagnosed with thyroid cancer at twenty. He went through the chemo and has been declared to be in complete remission."

Cameron's attention was riveted to the board, her heart speeding up. _Oh, God…_ she thought, beginning to panic. _No…_

"He's been complaining of tinnitus and neck pain…"

The rest of the information passed in one ear and right out the other for Cameron. This case was already hitting too close to home. What if the patient wasn't in complete remission? He could be relapsing. Who was the physician that declared the patient to be in remission? Now there was the question…

"Who declared the patient to be in remission?" Cameron interrupted the information session.

"A Dr. Mycas in Pennsylvania."

"Have Wilson look at the patient," she said immediately.

"Cameron, he's in remission," Chase reminded her softly.

"Not necessarily. Cancer's tricky. It can come back even after remission. He needs to be looked at again, and by a better oncologist," she insisted forcefully. "Who is this Dr. Mycas anyway? What sorts of articles has he had published? Where was his fellowship at? _Have Wilson look at the patient_."

House was silent, studying Cameron with a tense look. He'd been hesitant to take this case, knowing that she'd be far too close to it. And he hadn't wanted to expose her to it so soon after the anniversary of her husband's death. But a part of him had realized that she needed this. She needed to close this door and move on. It would always be difficult for her, but it shouldn't stop her work. He looked to Foreman and nodded to the phone. "Call Wilson. Tell him to stop by room 203 and take a look at the patient in there when he gets the chance. Explain the history with thyroid cancer."

As Foreman followed orders, House grabbed his cane off of the board and leaned on it, staring down Cameron. "You're too close to this case, aren't you?"

"I'm fine," she snapped in response.

Even Chase gave her a slightly pitying look. "Cameron…"

"Don't," she told him, turning her anger to him. "Don't give me that pitying look and don't baby me. I'll be fine on the case. It was just a bit of a … shock when the symptoms were read." She turned to House and frowned. "I'm fine," she reiterated.

He didn't believe her in the slightest, but he'd let her think what she wanted. "I need a more detailed patient history."

"I'm on it," she responded, grabbing up a notepad and storming out of the room.

Chase glared at House. "You're a complete ass, you know that?" he asked angrily.

House cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes. "Now … are you saying that because you don't like how I'm treating your fellow duckling? Or are you saying that because you're upset that I'm currently dating your fellow duckling?" He knew he'd hit the spot when Chase's jaw tightened.

"You don't deserve her."

"Neither does the coworker who had sex with her while she was high on drugs," House shot back immediately. "At least she was sober when _we_ had a roll in the hay. Actually … she was sober _every_ time we had a roll in the hay." He slapped the folder down on the table in front of Chase. "Research the symptoms," he ordered. "Occupy that keen mind with something other than my girlfriend." He went into his office and turned on his iPod.

Foreman had watched the exchange slack-jawed, blinking a few times after House had left the room. "So… How about those Devils?"

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The rest of the day passed quietly by. Wilson had met with the patient and found that the thyroid cancer had, in fact, relapsed. He caught it before it was too late, which was always a wonderful thing. As it was, he was looking for Cameron. He wanted to talk to her about a few things. House was, of course, one of them. But more important was how she was feeling about the case she'd almost had to work on.

He found her sitting in the diagnostics room on her laptop, glasses sitting on her nose, brow furrowed in concentration. He leaned against the door and crossed his arms casually across his chest. "No work to do and you're still working?"

Cameron looked up and smiled at Wilson. "What can I say? I live for it." She took off her glasses and set them on the table. "How's the patient?"

"Great, considering the circumstances." He moved to sit near her at the table. "He's taking it all really well, and so is his wife." He was silent as he watched the sad smile on Cameron's face. "I wanted to see how you were doing."

"I'm fine," she answered immediately, though not crossly.

"I know this must have hit close to home…"

"Wilson, really," she assured him with an honest smile. "I'm okay. It was a shock. I'm okay now."

He nodded and tapped his fingers on the table. "So … how are things with House?"

Cameron gave him a look and put her glasses back on, her attention returning to her computer. "I'm sure he's told you. Or you've asked him and he refused to tell you, so you came to ask me."

Wilson laughed and nodded slightly. "You've got the routine down," he admitted. "I just want to make sure you know what you're getting into," he said hesitantly. He didn't want to upset Cameron, but this needed to be said. "House isn't going to be some … knight in shining armor. He's been through a lot and he _is_ going to hurt you plenty of times. He'll be sorry for it, and he'll show you somehow, but he'll never come right out and apologize. He's been through a lot and he's the epitome of cynical. He hates typical romance, happy endings, and anything conventional."

Cameron sighed and took her glasses off once more. "I appreciate your concern," she told him truthfully, pinching the bridge of her nose. "And I'm glad that you didn't come and accuse me of having the potential to break his heart this time." She cleared her throat and sat back in her chair. "But I know what I'm getting into. I knew what I was getting into the first time he kissed me. I'm not expecting some dashing man who will sweep me off my feet, okay? Greg will push me down so that I fall on my ass and laugh while I'm down there. But he makes up for it; and that's really all that matters to me. I'll take my knight in tainted armor; shining armor is overrated anyway. It just gets dirty and dinged up along the way."

He gave her a wide smile and sat back in his chair. "I knew you two would be good together."

She gave him a small smile back. "I did, too."

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It was about twenty minutes later when Wilson reported to Cuddy's office with the news. House and Cameron had, indeed, gotten together. And not just for a fling. They were in a full-blown relationship.

Cuddy had a satisfied smile on her face. "Do you think they'll last long? I'd hate to have to fire one of them because they can't work together…"

"Lisa, I would put money on them staying together."

Cuddy's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "How much? I'm willing to place another bet."

Wilson laughed and shook his head. "I'm not betting with you again. I paid over one hundred dollars for your dinner last time."

She gave him a sweet smile. "But we had a good time," she reminded him with a wink.

"We did." He shifted in his chair, which made Cuddy laugh. "House would kill us if he knew."

"If he knew what? There are a lot of things he'd kill us for… There was the fiasco with the exterminator. He didn't seem to upset about that, actually…"

"Then there are the bets we've made concerning him and his now-girlfriend," Wilson added with a bright smile.

"Not just the bets," she reminded him. "The plotting and planning. I never realized it could take months to figure out how to get House to fall for what was right in front of his face."

Wilson responded with a smirk. "Took _you_ long enough."

"We aren't talking about me," she said with a sniff. "We're talking about House."

"Sure, switch the topic… Anyway, House now has his apartment back. And guess who stayed over there last night?"

Cuddy grinned. "She'll be so good for him," she said softly. "I'm glad they're together."

"She'll keep him from doing something stupid, which might cause you to _have_ to fire him," Wilson added. "Since the third day he stayed with her, he's stopped making the nurses cry and he actually does his clinic duty when it needs to be done. He still bitches about it. But the point is that he does it."

"Thank God for Allison Cameron."


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer:** I'm running out of creative ways to tell you that they aren't mine. Latin's coming up next, okay?

**A/N**: As usual, thanks much to my betas! I hope everyone's enjoying the story so far. ;)

**Chapter Fifteen**

The weeks passed by slowly for House and Cameron. And, slowly, Cameron found her things seeming to move themselves into House's apartment. At first, it had been an extra change of clothes to be sure that she wouldn't have to run back to her place every time she stayed with him. It soon evolved into a few books at his place. Then she'd gone shopping to stock his fridge. When it got to the point where over half of her clothing was at his place, she finally just suggested that they move in together.

Her apartment went on the market the next day.

Once they were officially living together, Cameron had discovered that living with House full-time was quite a bit different than staying over every other night. He still refused to let her clean the place, and the clutter was getting on her nerves. The only places he allowed her to clean were the kitchen and the bedroom. He kept the bathroom immaculate, which she couldn't be happier for. But the clutter in the living room just had to go.

"Greg, could I at _least_ clean off the coffee table?" she begged one day as they sat on the couch watching television. "I can't concentrate on anything but the mess."

He smirked and closed his eyes. "Nope. I like it that way. You know, I'm pretty sure they make medication for obsessive compulsive disorder…"

"I'm not OCD!" she exclaimed, offended. "The clutter gets in the way, and it really-"

"Upsets you. I know." He rolled his eyes and gave her an exasperated look. "I'm still technically a bachelor," he reminded her. "What did I tell you about my bachelor pad?"

She frowned and sat at the other end of the couch, extending her foot and pushing a book off of the table. House laughed and prodded her side with his cane. "Stop pouting. Christ. I'll tidy it up later. Now come back here and keep my side warm. You make a great blanket."

She snorted and went back to his side. "And my breasts make great pillows, right?"

"Not so much," he responded, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "Every time I get near them, you're always writhing around."

She laughed and poked his side. "My mom called me earlier today," she informed him. "She…" She bit her lip, not sure if she wanted to go on with her statement. But she trudged forward hesitantly. "She wanted to know about Christmas."

"It's in a couple of weeks," he responded matter-of-factly. "And now she knows. She can be happy."

"She wanted to know if I'd be going to our usual family function."

"Are you asking permission?" House asked, awestruck. "That's just damn weird, Allison…"

"I wanted to know if you might … want to … come along," she said slowly, her voice getting softer as the sentence ended. Originally, she wasn't going to ask. She was just going to tell him that she was going to her parents' place for Christmas Eve and that she'd be back Christmas day. But she wanted him there … if he'd come with her.

The correct answer would be no, he didn't want to go. Of course, that would get him chewed out and she'd be pissed with him for weeks. Holidays meant a lot to her, though he still couldn't figure out why. He thought they were greeting card hacks. She genuinely loved them. "Do you want me to go along?" he asked her.

She was quiet for a moment, studying him. "I would like it if you did," she responded. It was funny how they managed to do things without ever giving the other a solid answer.

"I'll go," he conceded. "But I'm not buying gifts for anyone except Adam."

She laughed and gave him a kiss. "Thank you."

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That evening, Cameron had made plans with Foreman and Chase. Once she was gone, House called Wilson to come over. He wasn't going to spend the time alone, and he needed Wilson's help with something anyway. When Wilson arrived, House grabbed his coat. He answered the door and got a confused look from Wilson.

"We're going to the best jewelry store you know. You're driving."

"Jewelry store?" Wilson asked, bemused. "Isn't it early for you to being getting Cameron's Christmas present? You're notorious for waiting until the last minute."

"It's not for Christmas," House replied, grabbing his keys off of the table that Cameron had placed next to the door. "I need a ring." He led the way out of the apartment, locking the door behind him.

"Oh, my God…" the oncologist whispered. "You're going to propose."

"You're so observant… Must be why you're a cancer doctor. Now get your ass out to your car. I only have two hours. Unless she went out drinking with the other ducklings and not just out for fun. Then I have four."

There wasn't a chance in hell that Wilson would miss out on something this big, and he all but jogged to his car to unlock it in order to let House in. "There's a great family-owned place about twenty minutes from here. But it's on the more expensive end."

"That's fine."

Wilson let out a low whistle as he drove to the store. "You're really serious about this, aren't you?"

"Jimmy, I wouldn't be _proposing_ if I wasn't serious about it." He shifted uncomfortably and looked out the window. "Did you know that I'm down to three Vicodin per day?" he asked with a small shake of his head. "I don't know how she did it, Jimmy. She just … she sideswiped me."

"Have you told her you love her yet?"

"No," he said honestly. "I'm saving it. I like dramatic effect. She knows I do."

"Like dramatic effect or love her?" Wilson asked with a grin.

"Both." He paused and blew out a breath. "Shit. She's going to clean my apartment now."

Wilson laughed and pulled into the parking lot of the jeweler's. "The infamous bachelor pad will be no more. You're sure about this?" he asked as they got out of the car.

"Yes," he confirmed confidently. "I've been thinking about it for at least a week. Saying she's the one would be cliché and I refuse to do that. However, I will admit that any other woman would have dropped me cold when I told her that her ass _did_ look huge in those jeans."

With a snort, Wilson opened the door to the jeweler's. The two of them were greeted by the owner, who smiled and asked Wilson if he wanted to look at a selection. Wilson flushed in embarrassment. "No," he mumbled. "My friend here is looking for an engagement ring."

"Ah, forgive me," the proprietor said with a smile before turning to House. "I'm Dan Poneski, the owner. Do you know what sort of ring you'd like? We carry many styles and we offer financing."

"I can pay up front," House stated with a shrug. "I want something with a sapphire."

"Any particular band?"

"Band?"

Wilson snorted. "The think that holds the ring on her finger," he said sarcastically.

House smacked the back of Wilson's leg with his cane, causing his friend to laugh. "White gold."

"Right this way," Dan said with a smile, leading the two friends to a small display of rings. "We have plenty of options to choose from. The white gold range in prices from two hundred to fifteen hundred dollars, depending on the stone. If you want a sapphire, then you're looking at spending between seven hundred and one thousand dollars."

"Okay," he responded with a shrug. "So … are you going to _show_ them to me?"

"Greg," Wilson warned.

Dan laughed. "It's quite all right," he told Wilson, unlocking a cabinet and bringing out a collection of twenty rings. "The choice is small, but beautiful." He set the rings down to show them to House.

House let out a low whistle. "Wow," he couldn't help muttering. He picked up a ring that had a small, sapphire heart in the centre of four smaller diamonds. He examined it closely before glancing at the other rings. "Do you do engraving?" he asked.

"For an additional fifty dollars," Dan answered with a smile.

"I want this one," he said, continuing to look at the ring. "And I'd like 'Always' engraved on the inside of the band."

Wilson gave House an incredulous look. He'd never seen his friend so sure about anything other than diagnosing patients. It made him glad, though. It definitely made him glad to see Greg so sure of something so big. And he hoped, sincerely hoped, that everything would work out between Greg and Allison.

"Your total comes to…" Dan punched in some numbers on his calculator. "Fourteen hundred, thirty one dollars."

House reached in his pocket and took out his checkbook, talking to Wilson as he wrote the check. "Her parents had better pay for the dress," he said, his tone joking as he ripped the check out of the book. "That or the reception. They'll probably run the same, right?"

Wilson laughed. "If the dress runs the same as the reception, Cameron has extremely expensive taste."

"You'd know," House said, not derisive, but more honest than anything. He handed the check to Dan. "When will that be ready?"

"Our engraver is in right now. I can have it done within thirty minutes."

"Thanks. We'll wait here and look at all of the pretties," he snarked.

Dan grinned and took the ring to the back, leaving Wilson and House to browse the rest of the jewelry. The silence that settled between them was comfortable, and House's eyes scanned the rest of the expensive things in the store.

"She really makes you happy, doesn't she?" Wilson asked softly.

"She… Somehow, she completes me," he answered just as softly. "And you will _never_ hear me say that again."

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House and Wilson were back hours before Cameron returned, and when she finally came back, she was on her cell phone. She opened the door and dropped her purse on the table.

"We'll be there, Mom. When? I don't know _when_… When did you want to do dinner?" She looked over at the two men and smiled, giving Wilson a wave. "Four's too early. We're working Christmas Eve. _Yes_, you know this. Seven?" she asked looking at House.

House nodded and tossed a cashew into his mouth. "Is it BYOB?" he asked.

Cameron snorted. "Do you want us to bring anything?" She cradled her cell phone on one shoulder while removing her jacket from the other, then held it with her opposite hand as she got the coat off.

"That's talent," House told Wilson, pointing at Cameron. "Who else do you know that can do that?"

"Um… Me? Cuddy?" Wilson paused and stole a cashew. "You?"

"Buzz-kill."

"We should be able to make it out by seven if the roads aren't too bad. Will we be staying with you guys?" she asked, once again looking at House. This time her eyes were wide as she shook her head vigorously.

House laughed and threw a cashew at her. "Only if the weather's too rough to drive back," he muttered.

Cameron rolled her eyes. "We'll see. Depends on the weather. Yeah, Mom. You, too. Bye." She snapped her phone shut and sat on the couch next to House, stealing a few of the cashews that he had. "Were you two good boys while I was gone?"

"We went shopping," House answered. "I bought a toy."

"If you bought another bike, I'm taking it back," she warned.

"Calm yourself," he told her, sticking his tongue out. "I got a new phone."

"What did you need a new phone for?"

"My old one was two years old. That's, like, fifty in cell phone years. I cannot own a phone that's older than I am. That's lame."

Wilson snorted and set his feet on the coffee table, much to Cameron's chagrin. "So how are you two lovebirds holding up? I haven't even seen you two in the same room together since you shacked up."

"We don't like people to watch," House responded solemnly. "It makes her uncomfortable."

Cameron smacked House's arm and took the bowl of cashews out of his hand. "No more nuts for you."

"If I told you that, you'd pout all over the damn place."

Wilson laughed as he watched the couple. "Well aren't you two cute?" he teased. "When can we expect little Cameron-House's running all over the place?"

House snorted and Cameron laughed uncomfortably. "We haven't discussed kids, Jim," House said honestly. "Besides, can you see me with a baby?" He took the cashews back from Cameron.

"I can see you getting as fat as a pregnant woman if you don't stop eating like that," Cameron retorted, taking the cashews from him again and carrying them into the kitchen.

"Stealing things from cripples is one thing. Walking away with the stolen item is just _rude_, Allison."

Laughing, Wilson took his cell phone out of his pocket to check the time. He'd promised to meet Lisa at midnight, when she was done taking care of a few things. It was nearing that time now. "Much as I'd love to stay and observe you two, I've got places to go."

"Hot date?" Cameron asked.

"Sort of." He pulled on his coat and gave the two of them a smile. "But if I told you, I'd have to kill you. See you two at work."

House and Cameron called out their good-byes, and she returned to the couch to sit by him. "Have fun with the boys?" he asked her, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"We got Chase drunk and convinced him to hit on the bartender," Cameron said with a wide smile.

"Was she hot?" House asked with a smirk.

"_He_ was nice-looking," she replied, laughing. "The poor guy was trying to let Chase down easy, because you can't tell when he's drunk. He doesn't slur or anything."

"Then how do you know he wasn't just hitting on the guy? I always suspected…"

"He had three Snakebites before we got him to do it."

"Nice." House's free hand nervously brushed the small box in his pocket. He wasn't sure when he wanted to ask her… Just that he did want to ask. And sometime soon. "Wilson mentioned something while we were out."

"I bet Wilson mentioned a lot of things while you were out," Cameron teased lightly, kissing House's neck.

He smirked and tickled her side. "He was talking about this woman he's seeing right now. Wouldn't give me her name, which makes me think it's either an ex-wife or Cuddy," he said with a snort. "Anyway… He said he doesn't want to marry her."

Cameron frowned in thought. "But … and don't take offense … doesn't Wilson always want to marry someone?"

House laughed and kissed the top of Cameron's head. "Yes, which is why his behavior was so suspicious. He said he didn't want to marry her because he didn't want to break her heart. Something about him always wanting to find something new once he's married. I don't know. I'm not his psychiatrist."

Cameron snorted. "I take it there's a reason you're relaying the story," she said with a smile. House always had a reason for something.

"Yes, but now that you've pointed it out, I'm not going to tell you," he sniffed, grabbing the remote to turn on the television. "Wanna watch a movie?"

"Hmmm… No." She grabbed the remote and turned the television off. "I had something else in mind." Her hand stroked the inside of his left thigh and she dropped small kisses on his neck.

"Watching Chase flirt with boys turned you on that much?" he asked with a smirk. He loved it when she took the lead.

"Not so much." She climbed into his lap and started unbuttoning his shirt. "I saw this couple on the dance floor…" his shirt was unbuttoned and off in a few seconds. "He had his hands on her hips, and she was grinding against him." Cameron began grinding slowly in House's lap. "And it made me think about how much I wanted to come back here and be with you."

House's eyes darkened and he licked his lips. "You tell Foreman and Chase that?" he asked with a devilish grin.

"Mmhmm," she answered, lowering her head to nip at his neck. Her hands went to fumble with the snap of his jeans. "I told them I was going to come home and screw you until you couldn't think. They weren't amused. I think I made Chase vomit."

"I think three Snakebites made Chase vomit," he responded, taking hold of her hands and pulling her so that he could take her lips for a slow, seductive kiss. "And I think we should stop talking about Chase and move this to the bedroom."

"How right you are." She stood and waited for him.

"Go on," he told her with a smile. "I'll be there in a minute."

She kissed him again and went to the bedroom, knowing that he needed to take a Vicodin. He waited for her to get into the bedroom before taking his pill and reaching into his pocket. He took the box out and set it on the coffee table, between two piles of books. He wanted to ask her, but he didn't want her to know it was coming. He wanted it to be … well … special.

**A/N 2:** Hope you guys like the chapter! I need your help, readers! I'm torn between ending this story with their engagement or going on and taking it through the wedding day. I want to know what you guys think. What would you like me to do? End it once they're engaged, or write to the big day? Lemme know what you think, and thanks for reading!


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer:** Characters etiam pulvis mei. Quod EGO TOLD vos Latin eram tunc!

**A/N:** Thanks for all of the comments on where the fic should go! lol! I was glad to read them, and I promise that you'll all get your wishes. We're going to the wedding, people! Well ... not yet, but... Oh, you get the jist of it. ;)

**Chapter Sixteen**

When House awoke the next morning, he rubbed his face and let out a small sigh. He'd done it. He'd bought her a ring. Was he completely insane? She wouldn't marry him. No matter how much she might try, she could never get him to completely believe that she wanted to stay with him. He didn't even want to stay with himself; why would she want to stay with him?

He tossed back the covers to get out of bed when he felt a hand on his chest. "Don't get up yet," Cameron requested tiredly. "I want to lay with you."

"I didn't mean to wake you," he apologized, smiling when she threw his covers back over him.

"I always wake up when you get out of bed," she said with a yawn. "I hate it when you leave."

He could tell she was still half asleep. For one, she was being completely candid. Besides that, she was snuggling into his chest. Maybe buying the ring had been a good decision, after all. They were living together, he swayed himself. And she had that overwhelming urge to clean his apartment, which never ceased to make him laugh.

But could he spend the rest of his life with her? Could he really? He supposed that having a few doubts was what made it right. Nothing should be perfect in life. If it was, it was bound to end badly. One of the reasons he wanted to marry Cameron was simple: he didn't want a Stacy repeat. He had never regretted not asking her to marry him. Marriage with Stacy just didn't seem like something feasible. But he knew that if he didn't ask Cameron, he would very much regret it.

"I can practically hear your mind working," the woman on his mind groused with her eyes closed. "I'd distract you, but I'm just too tired."

He grinned and caressed her side. "You can distract me later," he promised. "Maybe I'll even let you distract me at work."

"Promises, promises." She yawned again and finally looked over at him. "What're you thinking about this early, anyway? The alarm won't go off for another hour."

"No matters of life and death," he replied honestly. "Don't worry about it."

Her brow furrowed and she rested her chin on his shoulder. "Don't make me tickle it out of you…"

"You tickle me and I'll push you out of the bed," he warned seriously. "And you'll get rug burn on that hot little ass, and _then_ where would we be?"

She stuck her tongue out at him. "I'd be on the floor and you'd be laughing at me. Bastard."

"Yeah…" He tilted her chin so that he could give her a kiss. "How old are your parents?" he asked curiously.

"My mom's fifty three and my dad's sixty."

House snorted. "So do all of the women in your family have a thing for older men?" he teased. "Maybe I could get your sister, too. I'm known for my charm."

"Everybody lies," she replied dryly. "Besides, you're … not exactly Angie's type," she said with a small smile. "Anyway… If you wanted to get something for Adam, I have a list of things he wants."

"Bring it to work and I'll look at it there," he answered, glancing at the clock with a small frown. "It's all your fault that I get to work on time every day now. I'm going to start deducting hours from your paycheck."

"Fine by me," she replied nonchalantly. "I'll just steal your wallet when I want to shop."

"I'll cancel my credit card," he threatened. "What now?"

"I'll refuse to have sex with you until you get it back."

He glared at her. "I used to think you were sweet. Now, I know the truth. You're ruthless."

"You weren't complaining about me being ruthless last night…"

He pinched her hip. "Enough. I have to shower. You need to dress. We have to go save lives and stuff."

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At work, they discussed their new case as usual. Differential diagnosis, run some tests and blood work, look for a cause. By now, Chase and Foreman had become semi-comfortable with the fact that House and Cameron were together. The couple was very good about being discreet, and Foreman even forgot that they _were_ a couple most of the time. Chase had settled into making gagging noises whenever the two of them bantered. Cuddy and Wilson did their best to stay out of House's path and use Cameron as a shield.

All in all, things were back to normal at PPTH. House had even started refusing to do his clinic hours again. Things broke apart again that afternoon, as the team stood in the diagnostics room discussing their current patient.

"What about a brain tumor? It would account for the twitches," Foreman suggested with a shrug. "As well as the shooting pains in her feet."

"What about chronic pain disorder?" Cameron asked, her brow furrowed as she studied the symptoms. "She's been complaining about pain all over her body. It just started in her feet. Chronic pain can spread to any part of the body."

Foreman thought for a moment before nodding slowly in agreement. "It could even explain the twitching."

"You want me to give a patient a highly controversial diagnosis?" House asked. "Awesome. Start her on some low-dose oxcarbazepine and see if it helps. The most dangerous thing it'll do is make her vomit a bit."

"Oxcarbazepine?" Chase asked with a frown. "That's too strong of a medication to start her on, even low-dose. She's never been on anything like it before. Chances are extremely high that she'll have an adverse reaction."

"Lamotrigine, then," House responded, grabbing his cane off of the board and going to his office. "In the meantime, someone go get me lunch." He made a point to look at Cameron, who rolled her eyes.

"Get your _own_ lunch," she told him, tossing a ten down on the table. "And get me something, too." After the statement, she walked out of the diagnostics room to give the patient her medication.

House glared at the money and pocketed it, making his way to the door when Chase stopped him.

"You're actually going to get lunch?" Chase asked, a laughing lilt to his voice.

"Yes," House responded simply. "Because if _I_ do something nice, _I_ get laid. You do something nice, and you just get a pat on the head. The reward definitely outweighs the deed for me. Gotta love it."

Foreman choked back laughter as House left the room. Chase's mouth had dropped open in either disgust or anger; Foreman wasn't quite sure. But once House was out of the room, Foreman patted Chase on the back and laughed out loud. "He just keeps winning whenever you try to confront him."

Chase scowled and shoved Foreman away. "It's not like…" He looked out the glass wall and his eyes widened. "Stacy," he whispered.

"What?"

"Stacy!" he exclaimed, pointing. "Stacy's out there!"

Foreman looked out and his jaw dropped. Sure enough, Stacy Warner stood outside with a few files under her arm, talking to one of the doctors from nephrology. "What's she doing back?" Foreman asked with a frown.

"Law, apparently," Chase snorted. He sobered, though, and frowned. "Someone needs to tell House and Cameron."

"I've got House," Foreman volunteered, going toward the door to find his boss.

Chase let out a slow breath. "I'll take care of Cameron."

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Chase found Cameron as she was coming out of the patient's room. "Cameron!" he called, pulling her aside. "You need to know… Stacy's back." He kept his voice low when he told her for two reasons. The first was to be sure that no one overheard him giving her the news. The second was to keep his voice gentle.

Cameron frowned. "What do you mean?" she asked slowly. "She's back here? For good?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "Foreman and I saw her outside the diagnostics room talking to another doctor. She had some legal files with her. Maybe she's just here on temp work."

"Maybe… Does Greg know?"

"Foreman went to tell him."

"Well… As long as he knows," she said with a small sigh. "I'm not going to get involved so long as I don't have to."

Chase smiled as they walked back to the diagnostics room. "And when would you have to?" he asked curiously.

Cameron smiled sweetly, opening the door. "If she tries to get him back."

"I smell a cat fight."

"Get your sniffer checked. There won't be one." She dropped the patient file on the table and went to pour herself a cup of coffee. "She could beat my ass. I'll just … mark my territory, so to say."

Foreman came back into the office at that moment with House close on his heels. He grabbed up the patient file and left the room, nodding to Chase to come with him. House went to Cameron and handed her a box with her lunch in it, then went to the table to eat his own. "I take it Chase relayed the news to you?"

"Yeah," she replied, sitting next to him to eat her own lunch. "Does it bother you?"

"Not unless she comes in here to talk to me," he responded honestly. "Then it might bother me." He popped a chip into his mouth and looked at Cameron. "Does it bother you?"

"Not really. I trust you not to run off to her." She stabbed a piece of her salad with her plastic fork repeatedly before finally picking it up and eating it. "You don't think she'll come in here to talk to you… Do you?"

Cameron would be lying completely if she didn't admit that she was at least a little bit nervous about Stacy being back. She _did_ trust Greg not to run to her. But if Stacy came to him… What then?

"I don't know."

"And if she does?"

"I thought you said you trusted me."

Cameron sighed and poked at her food. "I _do_ trust you," she affirmed. "I don't trust her."

House smirked and, after seeing that the blinds were still closed, wrapped an arm around Cameron's waist. "I don't, either. So just stay around if she comes in. I don't want her pushing me against the wall and doing naughty things to me."

Cameron blushed slightly and focused on her food instead of House's face. For some reason, she always blushed when he actually gave her attention at work. "What if I pushed you against the wall and did naughty things to you?"

"I'd be a very happy man. See? No worries."

They continued to eat their lunch in a comfortable silence, House being sure to keep close enough to Cameron to remain touching her. He realized that she needed to be reassured, and while it pissed him off, he couldn't blame her. He'd made mistakes with Stacy in the past. Not that he'd do it now, but he'd done it before. Cameron wasn't stupid; she knew that there would always be the possibility that he'd do something stupid again. It was once they'd settled back into comfort that they heard a woman's voice from the doorway.

"Greg."

House continued to eat his lunch, entwined his fingers with Cameron's under the table, and kept his back to Stacy. "Stacy."

They heard the sound of heels clicking on the floor as she came closer. "Dr. Cameron."

"Mrs. Warner," Cameron replied before taking a bite of her salad. "What brings you back to PPTH?" No reason to be cold to the woman. She hadn't done anything personal to Cameron… Yet.

"Dr. Blake called me in for some legal help. He doesn't like the lawyer that the hospital has right now." Stacy pulled out a seat away from the two of them and sat down, crossing her legs. "You two look comfy."

"You should see us when we're at home, in bed. It's even comfier," House responded rapidly. "If you're here to consult with Dr. Blake, why are you here in my diagnostics department?"

"I thought I'd stop by and say hello," she answered hesitantly. "See how you were doing." Her eyes looked between Cameron and House and she gave a small smile. "You seem … okay."

"I'm okay." He finished his lunch and closed his box before stealing a piece of Cameron's lettuce, which got a frown from her. "You could even say I was peachy."

Stacy changed her focus from House to the young doctor at his side. "And you, Dr. Cameron?"

"I'm great," she replied with a smile. "Never been better."

"Dr. Blake mentioned that the two of you seemed … cozy lately. Doctors around the hospital are speculating about a possible relationship. Cuddy's been heading them off."

House sat back in his chair and rested the hand that was under the table on Cameron's thigh, caressing it lightly. "So you're here to see if it's true." It wasn't a question; he knew Stacy well enough to know when she was trying to figure something out.

"I'm here to see if you're happy."

"How sweet… You cheat on your husband with me and then check to see if _I'm_ happy." He looked a Cameron. "Isn't she a little ball of sunshine?"

"So it is true," Stacy said, not needing a clear response. "How long?"

"Long enough." He watched as Cameron sat calmly, eating her lunch. He couldn't let her just sit there without embarrassing her a little… "She's a lot better in bed than I remember you being."

Cameron coughed, almost choking on her salad. "I really don't think she needs the stats on our sex life," she said, grabbing her coffee and taking a drink to coat her throat.

"But it's so healthy… I just thought she ought to know," House said innocently. He smirked and squeezed her knee lightly before letting his gaze slide back to Stacy. "Hope you don't mind my bluntness."

"You're not being blunt," Stacy said with a knowing quirk of her eyebrow. "You're trying to embarrass me as well as your girlfriend."

"You know me so well. Almost makes me wonder why I didn't ask you to marry me… Oh, yeah! You did that thing… What was that?" He looked as though he were seriously pondering something. "Right! You left," he said flatly.

"Greg, that's enough," Cameron said softly. "Leave it be, already. She just wanted to check on you."

"No, she wanted to pry." He kept his eyes on Stacy. "It's what she does when she's trying to get something. What are you trying to get, Stacy?"

"Greg…"

"Just information," Stacy cut Cameron off. "I wanted to see if the rumors were true. I see that they are. I'm happy for you."

When House opened his mouth to make another scathing comment, Cameron cut him off. "Thank you," she said quickly.

"I wasn't talking to-"

"I wasn't thanking you," Cameron put in coolly. "I was doing it for Greg. We both know he won't. And you ought to be thanked for coming all the way over to diagnostics just to wish him well."

"Ooh, bitchy," House stated giddily. "I can't even get her to do that," he told Stacy. "You're talented."

"So I've been told." Stacy took one last look at the couple. "I hope you two are happy. I mean that." She took her leave after her well-wishing, leaving House and Cameron to sit in awkward silence.

House reached into his pocket to pull out his Vicodin, and Cameron snatched it out of his hand. "You don't need this," she said sternly.

"Allison-" He reached for the pills, but she stood to move out of his reach.

"You _don't_. You aren't due to take one until three. You've been fine. You don't need one." She set them on the counter with the coffee and crossed her arms angrily over her chest. "Just because Stacy came back doesn't mean that you have to return to your old habits, Greg. That's ridiculous."

He was quiet and tapped his cane on the floor. She was right. He wanted one to take away his nerves and, he'd admit, the pain of seeing Stacy again. Pain always seemed to go along with Stacy. Healing went along with Cameron. Hmm…

"You didn't finish your lunch," he told her blandly.

"I've lost my appetite."

He frowned. "Don't be a bitch to me," he warned her. "I didn't do anything other than goad her. It's what I _do_ around Stacy. I goad her. It's simple." When Cameron didn't unclench, he sighed irritably. "I'm sorry, okay? Now come eat your lunch."

"You just do such a great job of pissing people off, you know that?"

"I'm still the same person that I was before we started seeing each other, Allison," he reminded her harshly. "You've just gotten used to the side of me that hasn't had to see Stacy." He watched the emotions play on her face before she finally gave in and came back to finish her lunch.

"Are you still attracted to her?" Cameron asked, staring at her lunch. She dreaded the answer, but she had to have it. "I need to know…"

He was quiet, studying her intensely. "She's an attractive woman."

Cameron drew in a sharp breath and let it out slowly. Well, she had her answer…  
She pushed her lunch away from her and started to stand in order to leave the room.

This was it. His opportunity; his perfect opportunity. He reached out and took her wrist, and then he reached into his pocket and placed a small, black box on the table in front of her. He'd been carrying it around with him, fearing that she'd find it if he left it in the apartment. "But I never wanted to marry her."

Cameron looked at the box, then back at House, her mouth forming a small 'o' of surprise. "Greg…" There was a ring in that box, and she knew it. She knew it was an engagement ring.

"Open it."

"I…"

"Open it, Allison."

She did so, with shaky hands, and her eyes welled with tears when she saw the ring. "Oh, my God…" She took it out of the box and read the inscription. "Always," she whispered. "Always?" she asked him.

His mouth twitched upward in a smile and he wiped a tear off of her cheek with the pad of his thumb. "Well, yeah. I'd rather not pull a Wilson."

Cameron let out a small laugh and put the ring on. "Cuddy's going to have a field day covering this up."

"Please. The doctors and nurses don't mind. They're just happy that I don't actively attempt to make them cry anymore… Now it's just a happy coincidence."

She leaned over to brush a kiss over his lips. "I can't believe I'm marrying you…"

"I can't believe I'm going to let you clean my apartment." He dodged the smack that was coming toward his shoulder and stood, nodding for her to come along. "Might as well break the news to mommy and daddy. They'll want to squeal and whatnot."

Cameron laughed and grabbed the final bites of her lunch before following House to Cuddy's office. This day had been nothing short of odd. And, she realized, odd was normal when one was in a relationship with Greg House.


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer:** Hope everyone understood that Latin last time. ;) They still aren't mine.

**Chapter Seventeen**

When Cameron and House walked into her office, Cuddy expected the worst. She'd told Stacy to keep out of the diagnostics department, but she was sure that the other woman wouldn't have listened. So when she saw the couple, she immediately cringed.

"Please don't tell me that I have to yell at someone," Cuddy said as they sat in front of her desk.

"You could if you wanted to," House suggested hopefully. "I mean, I wouldn't be opposed to it…"

"House."

Cameron grinned and nudged his foot with hers. "We thought you ought to get the update on our status before anyone else did. Since you're the boss and all…"

"Update?" _Please, God, don't tell me they've broken up_, Cuddy thought.

House reached over and took Cameron's left hand, holding it up for Cuddy to see the ring sitting on her finger.

"You're engaged?" Cuddy whispered in awe. When she saw the smile on Cameron's face and the way that House was looking at Cameron, she smiled widely. "You're _engaged_!"

"Told you she'd squeal," House murmured to Cameron. "Yeah… We're engaged," he said to Cuddy. "I need to know if I need to fire her or not. You know … hospital policy."

"Don't fire her," Cuddy scolded. "I don't care if you two are married with three kids and she still works for you. I don't think anyone else really will, either."

"What the hell _is_ it with you, Wilson, and kids?" House asked irritably. He looked at Cameron. "Maybe she's _having_ a kid with Wilson."

"We aren't talking about me, House. We're talking about you being engaged!" Cuddy exclaimed happily. "James is going to-"

"_James_?" House asked with a smirk. "He's _James_ now?"

Cameron grinned. "I think you're right," she told House with a somber tone to her voice. "I think they're having a baby and want everyone else to jump on the bandwagon."

"We are not," Cuddy insisted, flustered. "When did this happen?" she asked, nodding to the ring on Cameron's finger.

"A few days ago. Wilson took me to one of his favorite jewelry shops, and-."

"The _engagement_, House. Not the ring purchase."

"Oh. That." He rolled his eyes and looked at Cameron again. "Dean of medicine and she has no idea on how to be specific." He turned his attention back to said dean of medicine. "Stacy paid a visit to my department. She left. I asked. Allison answered. Fun times."

"Forgive him," Cameron drawled sarcastically. "He's so overcome with joy that he can't even form full sentences."

Cuddy grinned at the couple and sat back in her chair. "Looks like I owe James a bit of money."

"Does _everyone_ in this hospital bet about us behind our backs?" House asked irritably. "I mean, it's fine when I do it. But when people start copying off of me…"

"What was the bet?" Cameron asked curiously.

"James bet me that House would ask you to marry him within the week. I bet against him."

House smirked. "And when did he make this bet with you?"

"This morning… You said he went shopping for the ring with you…" Cuddy frowned. "Damn it."

House laughed. "You, Dr. Cuddy, have been screwed. Perhaps literally; I don't know." His pager went off, followed a few seconds later by Cameron's. "Uh oh. Looks like patient problems." He nodded to Cuddy. "You can call Jimmy now and bitch at him. I kind of wanted to be here for it, but you know… Saving lives and whatnot."

Cuddy frowned and resisted the urge to throw something at House. "Go take care of your patient. Let me know about the wedding."

"Will do." He pulled Cameron out of her chair and led the way out of Cuddy's office.

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As it turned out, the patient had an allergic reaction to the medication they'd put her on and was now refusing any other sort of treatment. House frowned and sat at his desk, tossing a ball in the air restlessly when Foreman delivered the news.

"Someone go convince her that the anti-seizure medication is the only thing that's going to stop her pain," he ordered. "She can't take OTC painkillers. Hell, she can't even take prescription painkillers. The only treatment for CPD is anti-seizure meds."

"I told her that," Cameron replied, just as frustrated as House was. "She says she doesn't care and she wants a second opinion."

"No other doctor in New Jersey is going to diagnose her with CPD."

"Yeah, we know," Chase responded with a frown. "We've all tried to convince her… She's not budging. She wants to be released and she wants a second opinion."

House sighed and set the ball on his desk, snatching up his cane and hobbling toward the door. "Why do people _always_ have to _doubt_ me?" he muttered on his way out.

The three younger doctors watched as House left, all of them wondering whether or not he'd be able to get through to their patient. Cameron shook her head and went into the diagnostics room, plopping down in front of her laptop and logging on to check her e-mail. There was nothing more that they could do right now; everything was in House's hands. She hoped he'd be able to convince the patient to take treatment.

Chase and Foreman followed behind her, sitting on either side and watching her computer screen blankly.

"If he didn't treat multiple times before discovering the disease, we wouldn't have so many patients refusing treatment when we finally know what it is," Foreman said quietly. "He's a brilliant doctor… But he gambles too much with people's lives."

"If he didn't gamble, we'd lose more people," Chase defended loyally. "His treatment might make the patient worse, but they accelerate the disease to help us diagnose. Without the treatments, it could take months to diagnose over half of the patients that we get in here. What he's doing is right."

"No, it isn't," Cameron put in softly. "Foreman's right. House shouldn't be gambling with people's lives. The problem is that there isn't much of a choice… It's either treat what we see or wait for symptoms to show up. I don't feel it's ethical for him to accelerate the diseases."

Foreman and Chase both looked at Cameron in awe. "You don't?" they asked.

"No. And he knows it. But that's a professional matter, not a personal one. And he doesn't have to take my feelings on it into account." She took her glasses off and sat back in her chair, closing the lid to her laptop with a sigh. She reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose when she heard Chase clear his throat.

"Nice rock," he said, nodding to the ring on Cameron's finger.

Cameron took her hand away from her nose and looked at the ring, a smile forming on her face. "Yeah… It is."

"He asked you to marry him?" Foreman asked, amazed.

"Mmhmm." She continued to study the ring contentedly. "And I was more than happy to oblige."

Chase grinned at Foreman. "When did he ask you? You didn't have that on this morning when the two of you came in."

"Stacy came for a visit. He asked me after she left."

Foreman snorted. "No romantic preamble."

Cameron gave him a blank stare. "It's _Greg House_," she said with a small smile. "If I got a romantic preamble from him, I'd go into cardiac arrest." She was still in a state of disbelief over the engagement. How could she not be? It hadn't been quick, exactly. They'd known each other for almost two years, and had spent the last three months in a relationship. An actual relationship. She'd come to accept his living habits, albeit grudgingly. But that didn't stop a small feeling of panic from rising in her stomach when she realized that she was getting married. Again.

House stuck his head into the room and lifted his eyebrows. "Who wants to push some more drugs into the patient?" When he saw the boys grinning at him, he rolled his eyes. "If you two squeal, I _will_ fire you. Chase, go drug up the girl. Be sure not to sleep with her afterwards, though. Foreman, get the discharge papers ready."

Cameron frowned. "What about me?"

"You can sit there and look pretty while I grab a patient file for you to read."

"We already have another patient?" Chase asked, his voice revealing his surprise.

"We've got three, actually. And four more on standby." He found the file he was looking for and plopped it down in front of Cameron. "Go on, now. Get to work. You can do it!"

Chase rolled his eyes and grabbed the prescription paper from House, followed by Foreman, who went to grab some discharge papers. Cameron sat at the table, starting to take notes on the patient file.

House sat at his desk and put his leg up. Things were shaping up pretty well. He was engaged, which still wasn't sitting quite right in his stomach. He had to be in a wedding. Hell, he had to help _plan_ a wedding. He'd been in all of Jimmy's. But to be the groom…? It felt weird.

He tapped his cane thoughtfully on his foot. As he reflected on the past few months, he realized that he had, indeed, changed. Nothing drastic or dramatic. He was still an asshole, and always would be. The only things different were his Vicodin intake and he was little less of a jerk to doctors. He still snarked at patients. He still hated clinic and had started skipping out on it again. Overall, he felt that he'd gotten the better end of the bargain.

Wilson came in with a file, disturbing his thoughts. He dropped the file in front of House. "I have a case for you."

House looked at him and quirked his eyebrow. "Jimmy, I have three cases already and four in standby."

"When the hell did you get three cases!" Wilson exclaimed, distraught. The case that was given to him was beyond comprehension, hence the reason he took it to House.

"Lupro, Raymond, and Miller all handed them to me on my way back here from my current patient's room."

"And the standby?" he asked, stunned. Doctors were actually _approaching_ House to give him cases instead of going through Cuddy? That was just weird.

"Kraft, Filban, Smedley, and White. But their cases were delivered to me by Cuddy." He checked the clock and took out a Vicodin. It was time for it, and he was pretty proud of himself for making it. "I think the only reason Lupro, Raymond, and Miller actually hand-delivered their cases was because they were in a pack. They could attack in numbers, leaving me completely defenseless."

Wilson frowned and put his hands on his hips, giving a small sigh. "So I take it my case will go on standby?"

"Unless it's near-fatal." He looked at the stack of files on his desk and cringed. That was going to be a lot of paperwork…

"It's getting close to near-fatal," Wilson offered.

House shrugged. "Put it on the top of the pile. The four standbys are there for a reason. These people are in outpatient care, so it's no big deal. We'll get to them eventually."

"And if they become near-fatal?"

"Then we'll admit them and treat them," House stated matter-of-factly. "Honestly, Jimmy. Aren't you supposed to be a doctor?"

Wilson set the file on top of the other four. "Thanks."

"No problem. I love having too much work to do. Keeps me out of the clinic."

"You know, Cuddy's going to start on your clinic hours again and you're just going to have to spend more time there each week."

"Shhh. Don't ruin the magic." He stood and made his way to the diagnostics room. "Oh. And good idea betting with Cuddy when you already know the outcome. That was sharp."

Wilson grinned. "You asked her?"

"No, I was just congratulating you on a job well done," he snarked, opening the door. "Hey, Cameron. Wilson's playing stupid again. D'you think I'll get sued if I smack him around a bit?"

Cameron rolled her eyes. "Play nice," she scolded, taking off her glasses and closing the patient file. She waved to Wilson, who waved back before leaving the diagnostics department. "So how did you manage to procure seven patients in the space of twenty minutes?" she asked curiously.

"I _just_ when through this with Wilson," he told her. "I was cornered by three doctors at once. It was an ambush. The other four were reassigned by Cuddy. They aren't emergencies. And now we have another on standby."

"You mean we have more than two days' worth of work at one time? Preposterous," she teased with a grin.

"Isn't it though?" He erased the board and tapped a marker on the top of it. Chase and Foreman would be back soon, he knew. And now, for some reason, he felt awkward around Cameron, which made no sense whatsoever. "When do you want this thing to happen?"

She frowned in thought. "What do you…? Oh! The wedding!" She laughed and shook her head. "I don't know. Did you have a preference?"

"Not really…" He had no idea when to have a wedding. Was one month better than another? "You're the one who's done this before," he reminded her. "I'm the novice."

Cameron snorted. "I did this ten years ago." She paused, considering a possible date. Anything before May would be far too soon. And anything after October would be too late. July or August would be too hot. That left them with June and September. "June or September?" she asked.

"I'm not even going to ask how you figured on those months," he stated blandly. "September's a long time off."

"A lot of planning goes into a wedding. It's a while away, but it would mean less stress."

"Oh, come one. We thrive on stress. Let's go for June."

"Are you sure?" she asked hesitantly. "It'll come up sooner than you think…"

"Allison, June is fine." He tapped the marker on the dry erase board and watched the door, waiting for Chase and Foreman to come back. "I don't want to wait until September, anyway. It would get on my nerves."

Cameron smiled. House hated waiting. "June it is," she affirmed as Chase and Foreman came back.

"We gave her the first dose of the new meds, but we haven't discharged her yet. We'll keep her for observation."

"Sounds doctor-y," House snarked, turning to the whiteboard. "Next case…"

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By the time they had all three of the new patients stabilized, it was well past midnight. Cameron was nodding off at her laptop, Chase was trying to stay awake by doing a crossword puzzle, and Foreman was on his ninth or tenth cup of coffee for the day. House was in his office, iPod in his ears, tossing a ball in the air.

Having three cases at once was difficult. There had to be more than one person to keep an eye on the patients. The policy was one doctor per patient. The only reason House was still at the hospital was because it was the best place for him to think. The ducklings had their patients covered.

He shifted his focus to the other room, where he saw everyone struggling to stay awake. They were good doctors, he knew. All three of them were outstanding in their field. And he knew that he was hard on them; if he wasn't going to be, who was? Someone had to make them reach their full potential. He'd do it if he had to, though he'd prefer they reach it on their own.

Their repeat diagnoses told him how tired they all were. No one was coming up with anything new; everyone was too tired. He frowned and picked up the phone, calling the nurse's station to ask them to put two nurses on each patient. He needed a clear-headed crew tomorrow, and he wasn't going to get that if they were all here overnight. Once he'd gotten his nurses, he grabbed his bag and went into the diagnostics room.

"Go home," he told them. "I've got double nurses on each patient. I need you clear and focused tomorrow."

Foreman and Chase gathered their things and muttered their goodnights before leaving. Cameron was putting her laptop away, pausing to rub her eyes before slinging it over her shoulder.

"Give me the keys," House demanded, holding out his hand. "You're not driving like this."

She handed over the keys with little debate, knowing full well that she was tired enough to get into an accident. "We've never had this full of a caseload," she said with a yawn.

"I know," he responded, keeping an eye on her to be sure that she didn't fall right over. "The other doctors must be plotting against us. They want the monkey-bars all to themselves at recess."

Cameron grinned sleepily and yawned again. "I hate the monkey-bars, so they can have them." Once she was in the car, she rested her head on the seat and reclined it slightly. "People are going to know," she said tiredly.

"About?" House asked as he pulled out of the lot and started home.

"Us," she replied. "But I don't mind, you know. Cuddy said it's okay." Another yawn, and her eyes drooped closed. "I don't want a huge wedding, Greg."

House smirked. Cameron was always hilarious when she was dead tired. She rambled on and switched topics quicker than a schizophrenic. "Neither do I."

"I have to tell my parents."

"Wait until Christmas."

"Are you telling yours?" Her voice was getting softer; he could tell that she was very close to falling asleep.

"I'll tell them." Eventually. They'd know when they got the invitation, at least. He glanced over and saw that Cameron was sleeping and he smiled. He'd made the right decision in asking her to marry him. Definitely.


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer:** I tried to buy them... My credit card was declined. :-(

**Chapter Eighteen**

The next couple of days were hectic at the hospital. One patient would stabilize and the other two would crash. For four days straight, the team worked from nine in the morning to at least midnight, if not later. By the fifth day, nerves were high and tempers were flaring fast.

Cuddy had walked into the diagnostics department to offer her help and had been literally snapped out of the place by House and Foreman. Cameron and Chase had been arguing in the background about a patient's diagnosis. After being tossed out of the department, Cuddy went to Wilson to have him try to cool them down. He'd been thrown out, too.

Things were not looking good.

By five that evening, Cameron had stormed out of the department to grab some dinner and clear her mind. There had to be something completely simple that they were missing with all three of the cases. They were thinking too hard. They had to be. She made her way to the cafeteria, bought a salad, a juice, and a small chicken breast, and sat down at a table. Her mother had called her three times today and left three voicemails. Cameron was certain that they weren't important, but she checked them anyway.

She wasn't disappointed. All three of them were about Christmas. Christmas… It was literally just around the corner. Today was Saturday. Christmas was Tuesday. Cuddy had guaranteed Cameron that she and House would have Christmas day off, but if their patients didn't get better soon, they definitely would not be taking even a day's vacation. It upset her to think that she'd spend a Christmas without seeing her family, but she'd deal with it. It was part of being a doctor.

As she began eating her salad, someone pulled a chair out across from her. "Hope this seat isn't taken."

Cameron looked up to see none other than Stacy. She shook her head, and the older woman took a seat. "I hear you guys are having a hard couple of days."

"It's part of the job," Cameron responded through her salad. "It's been rough, but we're trudging right along." She took a sip of her juice before moving on to her chicken breast. "So I take it Dr. Blake still needs your help?"

Stacy frowned. "He's having issues with a former patient. I'm having trouble hammering out the details. But, like you, I'm trudging right along."

Cameron noticed that the other woman didn't have any food, which told her that Stacy wasn't here for a companionable dinner. "How's your husband doing?" she asked conversationally.

Stacy bristled slightly, but kept her cool. "Mark's fine."

"Glad to hear it," Cameron replied with a smile. "You two seemed good together when I last saw you." _And before you cheated on him with my current fiancé, you bitch._

"We're doing just fine," Stacy repeated. "Rumor has it you've got a ring around your finger."

"You sure hear a lot of rumors around this place for someone only doing temp work," she responded coolly, pasting a serene smile on her face. "And this one is true, too. Greg and I are engaged."

"Congratulations." Her reply was strained, and Cameron took great pride in that fact. "When did he ask you?"

"The day you decided to stop in and say hello. He proposed about five minutes after you left." She gave Stacy a smile and took a bite of her chicken. She chewed thoughtfully before asking, quite bluntly, "Do you still have a thing for him?"

Stacy smiled bitterly. "Anyone who's ever been with Greg House will always have a thing for him."

"Hmm."

They sat in silence for a while after that, Cameron eating her dinner and Stacy studying the young woman that Greg was going to marry. She recalled him complaining about her a while back, stating that she was a good doctor, but too sensitive. She should have known that he'd settle down with her eventually.

"So when's the wedding?"

"Sometime in June," Cameron answered. She smiled sweetly at Stacy as she took the last bite of her dinner. "I'll ask him to send you an invitation."

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When Cameron returned to the diagnostics department, her head was a bit clearer. Having a bitch-out with Stacy had provided the kind of distraction she needed. She went straight to the dry-erase board and looked at the symptoms with narrowed eyes.

Chase, Foreman, and House all watched her. They'd long since given up on arguing with each other and had settled for simply ignoring one another.

"Camilla needs BP meds," she said assuredly, circling the symptoms that pointed to the need for the medication. "They'll stabilize her blood pressure, and taking her off of the steroids will help with her nausea and stomach pain." She moved to the second patient on the list. "Joshua needs to be taken off of all treatment and given one day's rest, and then we need to hook him up to a banana bag." Finally, she moved to the third patient. "And Jamie…" She paused, thinking as she studied the symptoms. "I still haven't figured Jamie out." She tossed down the marker and turned to the three men, who were staring at her in awe.

"How did you come up with this?" Foreman asked slowly. "The three of us have been sitting in here for the past hour trying to come up with a solution."

"It's so simple that we've overlooked it. All of it. We keep trying to over-complicate things when all we really have to do is settle for the simple answer." She smiled at him. "Occam's razor, remember?"

"Where the hell did you go to clear your head?" House asked irritably. "Did they install some sort of brain recharger in the clinic and not tell me?"

"I ran into your ex-girlfriend," Cameron snarked back.

"Is she bothering you?" he asked immediately.

Chase took in a deep breath and let it out slowly and Foreman scratched his forehead. Neither of them wanted to be here if there was going to be a House-Cameron explosion.

"She's not now," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Can we treat the patient?"

"Chase, Foreman, go start the treatments." The two men hurried out of the room as House rounded on Cameron. "Why did Stacy want to speak with you?"

Cameron sighed and went for the coffee. "Greg, I have no idea. She asked about the engagement. I told her we were getting married in June. I offered to send her an invitation." She grinned. "She didn't seem pleased."

House snorted. "Imagine. How did talking to Stacy help you figure out two cases?"

"My mind switched gears, I guess. I knew it had to be something far simpler than what we were looking for. Thinking about ways to one-up Stacy somehow helped."

"So what you're saying is that all I need to do in order to get you to make prompt and correct diagnoses is piss you off enough to make you want to outdo me?" he asked with a quirked eyebrow.

She frowned at him and sipped at her coffee. "No." Sighing and leaning against the counter behind her, she looked at the floor. "She makes me feel like a child."

"And getting into a pissing contest with her _won't_ make you feel like a child?" he asked pointedly.

"It wasn't a pissing contest!" she exclaimed. "She sat down across from me while I was eating my dinner and struck up a conversation. Was I supposed to get up and leave the table?"

"Yes. Yes, you were."

"Greg, I'm not going to ignore her and I'm not going to avoid her. It's not like she can _do_ anything to me. What'll she do; try to steal my engagement ring? She has her own. She even has a wedding band."

House snorted and stood, pacing the room. "I don't like that she's here," he admitted.

"That's no reason to get pissy with me about talking to her." Cameron set her coffee down and watched him pace. He was so restless… It worried her. "Why don't you go get dinner?" she suggested gently. "Foreman, Chase, and I can hold down the fort."

"I'm not hungry," he responded gruffly.

"Greg…" she started in a soft tone.

"Don't, Allison," he snapped. "I am not hungry right now. I will eat when I am."

She frowned. "I told you not to get pissy with me about this," she told him.

"How am I not supposed to get pissy!" he exclaimed angrily. "She's back here, where I don't want her to be, and she's bothering me by bothering you! And she _knows_ that she is!"

"You're yelling."

"I know I'm fucking _yelling_!"

"Greg-"

"I was happy, Goddammit-"

"_Was_?" she asked dangerously. "You're not _still_?"

"No! Not with her here!"

"Why?" Cameron asked, setting her hands angrily on her hips. "Is it because it bothers you that she's back? Or does it bother you that you _do_ still have something for her and now that she's back, you've realized it? I'd like to know, Greg. I'm not keeping this ring on my finger if someone else is on your mind." It killed her to say it, but she couldn't be with someone who wasn't devoted to her. It wasn't fair to her, and it certainly wasn't fair to him.

House went completely still, staring Cameron down. "I don't have anything left for Stacy," he said heatedly.

"Prove it to me," Cameron responded, fighting back tears. "Prove to me that you don't have feelings for her. Because I'm not going to marry a man who's in love with someone else."

"For the love of… I'm not in love with _her_, I'm in love with _you_. And if you didn't figure that one out by now, you're not as smart as I originally gave you credit for." He watched her take in his confession of love. No overtones, no flowers or chocolates or even a happy moment. Just him telling her the truth.

Cameron stood in front of the counter, hand over her mouth and tears in her eyes. _I'm not in love with _her_, I'm in love with _you It was so very … House. It was a very House thing to say. To do. It drove her absolutely insane, and made her overwhelmingly happy at the same time. She swallowed, and looked down, clearing her throat. "Greg…"

"Are you sniffling?" he asked suspiciously. He studied her and frowned. "Allison, don't _cry_…" He rolled his eyes and went to her, pulling her hand away from her mouth and tilting her chin up to be face-to-face with her. "Why are you crying?"

"I don't know," she admitted through her sniffles. "There's so much stress and you're being weird with Stacy here and I keep thinking that you're going to hate me because of what she did to you and she keeps bothering me and-"

"Too many ands for one sentence," he told her with a frown, grabbing a tissue from the box behind her and handing it to her. "You worry about stupid things way too much."

"I know!" she sobbed.

"Christ, Allison… Stop with the waterworks already."

"I can't!" she continued, wiping frantically at her eyes. "This is ridiculous."

"Yeah, it is," he laughed softly. "Allison, if you need a break or a vacation, you need to tell-"

"I don't," she insisted. "It's just been a hard week, that's all. This was coming."

He frowned thoughtfully. He didn't think her tearful condition had all that much to do with stress, but he wasn't going to tell her that. He'd find out in his own way.

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The treatment worked for the patients, and they would be kept overnight for observation. For the first time in a week, the team went home at a normal time. On the way home, House made a point to hold and caress Cameron's hand. She had her insecurities, and they had been elevated by Stacy's return. Hell, his own had been elevated. He couldn't imagine what it was doing to her.

"I say we stop somewhere and grab dinner," he told her, watching the multiple fast food restaurants pass them by.

"We have food at home," she told him with a small smile. "We don't need to stop anywhere."

"It's been a stressful week. Let's eat out. Come on…" he coaxed. "You know you want to."

She rolled her eyes and pulled into the parking lot of a Chinese restaurant.

"Craving Chinese?" House asked curiously.

"No," she replied with a small frown. "Just salt." They got out of the car to go in and make their orders.

House smirked at her confession of the salt craving. It either put another tally in his theory, or she was close to being on her period. And if he had the calendar right, which he was pretty sure he did, she was most definitely not due for a period. "Are you due for a new pack of tampons?" he asked directly.

"You're so charming when you ask about my menstrual cycle," she responded dryly. "And no, I'm not. But I always crave salt after stress."

"Always?"

"Always," she said definitively. And the subject dropped. They got their Chinese food and went home for a peaceful night alone.


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer:** So I got a new credit card with more credit... They declined it AGAIN! Those heartless bastards. I just wanted to rent 'em for a minute or two... Or forever...

**Chapter Nineteen**

On Christmas Eve, Cuddy and Wilson both demanded that Cameron and House leave early in order to make it to Cameron's parents' home in time for dinner. The couple left at three instead of five, and Cameron promised to exchange gifts with everyone at work the day after Christmas.

They went home long enough for Cameron to change into something more comfortable and grab the gifts before heading for her parents' home.

"Do they know that we're getting married?" House asked on the drive.

"Umm… Not exactly?" Cameron replied sweetly.

House frowned and glared at her. "You didn't tell them," he accused.

"Well, you haven't told yours!" she exclaimed in defense.

"We aren't going to see mine in a half an hour!" he laughed. "You are _so_ in trouble."

"I am not," she responded, exasperated with the fact that it had slipped her mind to announce her engagement to her parents. "In case you haven't noticed, my mother and I don't exactly have an angelic relationship."

"Oh, I'd noticed. You two go at each other like cats. It's gonna be great to see it in person."

Cameron frowned and sighed. "Christmas is usually pretty peaceful. Easter's the fun holiday."

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They pulled into the driveway at six, which was an hour earlier than they'd originally planned. House didn't have a problem with it, especially when Adam came bounding out of the house to give Allison a flying hug. He gave House a huge smile.

"You came!" he exclaimed merrily, running to give House a hug.

House accepted the hug awkwardly, patting Adam's back. "Your sister can be deadly if you don't do what she wants," he said mysteriously. "You gonna help carry the presents in?"

"Yeah!" He ran and grabbed most of the gifts, leaving Cameron to carry only a few bags.

House waited for her and put an arm around her shoulders as they walked inside. They were met by a flurry of activity. Angie came and took the remaining gifts, placing them beneath the huge tree in the living room. Cameron's mother came and took their coats, reminding them to take their shoes off on the rug in front of the door. Her father yelled something about ham from the kitchen, and Adam was running around in circles.

"Good God," House muttered, eyes wide. He looked at Cameron. "Let's book out of here while we still can."

Cameron laughed and ditched her shoes at the door. "Dad, what's for dinner?" she called toward the kitchen.

"Ham, if I can ever get the damned thing to THAW!" he yelled, followed by a crash. Soon, a tall, stocky man with thick black hair came into the living room and smiled. "Hey, baby." He held his arms open for Cameron to come to him, which she did without hesitation. "So this is the man in your life, huh?" he asked, looking at House.

"This is Greg House," she said with a smile.

Cameron's father kept his arm tightly around his daughter's shoulders as he reached forward to shake House's hand. "Andrew," he introduced himself. He nodded to House's cane. "Nice cane."

"Thanks," he said slowly. "It use it to get handicapped parking spots. She tried to put tinsel on it, so I smacked her with it," he replied, shaking Andrew's hand.

Andrew grinned. "Glad to know someone's keeping her in check. Come on in. Make yourselves comfortable. Anything I can get you?"

"I could use a soda," Cameron said, taking House's hand. "You want anything?" she asked him.

"Depends on what's available."

"There's Tamdhu single malt whiskey and some Eileandour blended in the basement," Andrew offered.

House let out a low whistle. "So Cameron's the maiden name," he said with a grin, looking at Cameron. "I could go for some single malt."

"You got it." Andrew left the room and Cameron led the way to the couch, sitting and pulling House down next to her.

"See? It's not so bad."

"Your mother's not in the room yet," he murmured into her ear. "Are you going to hiss at her when she comes in?"

She slapped his chest. "No," she said with a small laugh. "I told you, we save the claws for Easter."

At that moment, a woman with short brown hair came in and smiled at them. "Ally, you're early!" she exclaimed, going to Cameron for a hug. "I thought you wouldn't be here until seven."

"We got off of work early." She motioned to House. "This is Greg."

"Nice to meet you, Greg," Cameron's mother said with a forced smile. "Ally's … told us so much about you."

House had to try not to laugh at the look on the woman's face. "She's told me a lot about you, too. She's a real family woman."

"She is," the woman said with a soft smile. House could tell that she really did love her daughter, and he had a feeling that the two women were almost exactly alike. "I'm Jennifer, by the way."

"The only non-A name."

Jennifer smiled brightly. "I'm the individual in the family." She heard a crash in the kitchen and cringed. "I'll … be right back."

"My dad gets stressed about cooking," Cameron explained with a grin, settling back down on the couch and snuggling into House's side. "He's a perfectionist."

"Must run in the family."

Andrew came in with House's whiskey and Cameron's soda. "Ally, we could use your help in the kitchen. That damned ham…"

Cameron laughed. "I'm on it." She looked to House and gave him a short kiss. "Adam's probably grabbing his games, if you want to play with him."

"You cook. I'll hold down the fort in here," he said with a serious nod.

Cameron snorted and went into the kitchen while House stayed in the living room, where Adam soon materialized with his plethora of video games. As House played games with Adam, Angie and Jennifer stood in the kitchen with Cameron, questioning her about House.

"I guess if he makes you happy, it's okay. But the guy's a dick, Ally," Angie said as she skinned some potatoes.

"He seems nice enough," Jennifer defended mildly, checking on the food that was already on the stove. "He's polite."

Angie rolled her eyes and left to get some more potatoes out of the basement.

Cameron laughed. "No, he's not," she said honestly. "He's just being polite right now because we've had a stressful time at work lately and he's afraid I'll grow snakes out of my head and turn him to stone if he says something wrong."

"Isn't it unethical to be sleeping with your boss, though, Ally?" Jennifer asked, ever the concerned mother. "Won't the other doctors talk?"

"They … don't really mind, Mom. It's complicated." She took the ham out of the hot water that she'd put it in to help the thawing process and placed it in a large pot before seasoning it. "And he's wonderful. Really."

"I sure hope so," Jennifer said with a sigh, spotting the ring on her daughter's finger. "How long have you been engaged?"

Cameron's mouth dropped open and she looked at the ring. She'd forgotten to take it off, damn it. "About two weeks," she muttered. "I meant to call and tell you… Work really has been very stressful."

With a smile, Jennifer embraced her daughter. "Oh, sweetie… Jackie told us that you were happy with him. We never expected you'd get married again."

Cameron fought back tears. "Yeah… Me, neither. I still have to take him to meet Jackie. I promised her."

"She'll be happy to know. She wanted you to move on once Dean passed." She started crying and hugged Cameron close to her. "I'm so happy for you."

Angie returned with potatoes and groaned. "Oh, God, not a sob-fest," she moaned, dropping the potatoes. "Why are we all crying?"

"Ally's getting married!" Jennifer exclaimed.

"What!" Angie screeched. "To… Oh, my God! Ally, are you really!"

Cameron nodded and laughed and her sister's reaction. Angie squealed and hugged her, twirling her around once. "I don't care if he's an asshole; it's okay!"

Cameron's laughter doubled at that statement, and she wiped tears out of her eyes. "Thanks… I think," she managed through her laughter.

"When is the wedding going to be? Have you picked a date? Ooh! Are you wearing white again? Do you have a caterer, because I've got a friend who would just _die_ to do it. Does Adam know? He'll be so excited! OhmyGod. Dad! Does Dad know? Did you tell him?"

Jennifer laughed this time. "Calm down, Angela. Ally, go tell your father and Adam. We'll finish up in here."

Cameron made her way to the living room, where she relayed the information to her father and brother. House smiled as Andrew gave his daughter what could only be described as a bear hug.

"Congratulations, honey," he said, his voice soft. He looked over at House. "You planning on giving her babies?"

"We haven't really discussed-"

"If she wants them," House cut in quickly. "And if I think I can manage to stay at work for long, long days to keep away from them."

Andrew laughed and gave House a slap on the back. "Good answer." He glanced at the kitchen and excused himself to go help, leaving Cameron, House, and Adam in the living room. Adam was being eerily silent.

"You okay, Adam?" Cameron asked gently.

Adam looked at the carpet, picking at it. "How come you're getting married, Ally?"

Cameron's brow furrowed and she sat down cross-legged in front of Adam. "Because Greg makes me really happy and I love him and want to stay with him for a long time. Are you unhappy about that?"

Adam's lip was shaking. "What if… What if he gets the brain disease, too, like Dean did? And what if he has to die, too, Ally?"

"Oh, Adam…"

House sat on the couch behind Cameron, looking down at Adam with a small frown. "Hey, kid," he said softly, getting Adam's attention. "I'm not going to get any type of brain disease."

"But how do you know?" Adam asked suspiciously, still picking nervously at the carpet.

"I told you. I'm a doctor, and I know everything." He could tell that the answer wasn't what Adam wanted, and he sighed, tapping his cane on the floor thoughtfully. "You know, I had my brain scanned last year."

"Scanned?"

"Yeah. They put me in this machine and I got something called a CAT scan. It took pictures of my brain and other doctors looked at it. It's disease-free."

"You promise?" Adam asked tearfully.

"Swear it," House responded solemnly.

"So … you're gonna be my brother?"

"You could say that." He was, after all, going to be the kid's brother-in-law. "Okay now?"

Adam smiled and nodded wrapping his arms around House's waist. The crisis, it seemed, had been averted.

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After a chaotic dinner, wherein Angie spilled wine all over the table and Adam managed to knock the mashed potatoes all over the floor, the family settled into the living room to open their gifts.

Cameron received mostly sensible things, like a new watch, some gift cards, and a scarf and glove set. Adam got videogames from his family and a Nintendo DS from House. The Cameron family was, House realized, much like the Brady Bunch. Except a bit more real, which was very nice.

There was one gift left under the tree. The wrapping was messy, and the card with it was done in crayon. Adam grabbed the gift and handed it to House. "Ally said I didn't have to get you anything, but I wanted to," he said excitedly.

House was surprised, and he looked down at the gift in his hand, feeling thoroughly awkward. He was supposed to open this in front of everyone? With a smile from Cameron, he read the card to himself. _Greg_, it read, the writing sloppy and making him smile. _I bought_ (spelled bawt)_ you this because I know _(spelled no)_ that you like games, too. Ally said you'd like it_. He opened the gift and grinned. "Thanks, Adam."

Cameron looked over his shoulder to see what it was. "_Resident Evil: Code Veronica_?" she asked with a groan. "How many of them did they make!"

House smirked and turned to look at Cameron's face, which was resting over his shoulder. "Enough to torture you for a long, long time," he promised with a kiss to her cheek. "And enough to have an all-night gaming party," he added, looking to Adam. "Right?" he asked.

"Yeah!" Adam exclaimed happily.

Cameron groaned. "I'm staying with Wilson if you two have an all-night _Resident Evil_ party, because I'm not holding _either_ of you when you get nightmares."

Jennifer and Andrew smiled at the couple and how House was handling Adam. It was good. It was very good to see Allison happy again.

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When they returned home, Cameron shrugged out of her coat and hung it on the coat rack before dusting the snow off of House's coat and pulling him close for a long, leisurely kiss. "Couldn't do that in front of the parents," she explained with a smile.

"Or Adam," House responded, setting down the bag of gifts and shrugging out of his own coat.

"Or Adam," she agreed, watching him as he took his coat off. "So … you're going to give me babies, huh?" she asked with a small laugh.

"Hey. The man wanted an affirmative answer. He's big enough to take me down; I can't _run_ from him."

She snorted and pulled him close for another kiss. "Were you serious? When you said it?"

"Is answering in the affirmative going to get me laid?" he asked suspiciously.

"Maybe…" she answered mysteriously.

"If you wanted kids," he said slowly, his hands working on unbuttoning her shirt. "I wouldn't be opposed. I won't be a wonderful father, and I'm not going to turn soft when the baby starts crying. I will mock you when you swell to three times your normal size, and I'll probably refuse to change the diapers most of the time."

"That's brutally honest," she stated with a smile.

"You still want one, don't you?"

"…Yeah."

He got her shirt undone and off of her, slowly walking her backwards to the bedroom. "I'm not 'Daddy' material," he warned her, dropping his own shirt somewhere in the hallway.

"I don't expect you to be." She tugged on his belt to get it out of the loops.

"I'm not going to play with it," he warned gruffly, burying his face in her neck and kissing there, nipping lightly to get a moan out of her. He wasn't disappointed.

"I won't expect you to," she gasped when he pushed her back on the bed.

"And I'm not running out for late night cravings of Taco Bell."

She pulled him down and straddled him. "Good. I like McDonald's better." She teased him, running her nails lightly down his chest and being sure to scrape over his nipples.

He groaned, taking her wrists and kissing both of her palms. "Never thought I'd be a family man."

"You're not yet," she assured him, working his pants off of him along with his boxers. "And even when you are, you won't really be. Because you … are Greg House. And nothing is ever what it seems with you."

"You're not making any sense," he told her with a laugh.

"You're naked in front of me," she used. "It's a valid excuse."

He smirked and crooked his finger for her to come closer to him. When she did, he slipped her bra off of her and nodded for her to get out of the rest of her clothing. She did so quickly, which made him grin. "Eager?"

"I already told you… You're _naked_. I'm allowed."

"I should just walk around naked. Then you'd-" He all but choked on his words when she closed her fist around him. He looked over to see her sweet smile and kissed her, pulling her to him and getting her to straddle him again so that he could enter her. He loved the feel of her. Loved it.

They moved together slowly, both of them reveling in the feel of the other.

Neither noticed nor minded that they hadn't remembered to use a condom.


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer:** Not ... mine...

**A/N:** Thanks to everyone for the great comments! Lots of you are curious about Cameron's condition... lol. Sorry to disappoint, which I know this chapter will do. But stick with me! I promise plenty of surprises before this fic is done. Thank you for reading, and I'm very glad that you're enjoying it.

**Chapter Twenty**

House awoke and looked at the clock. It was noon, and Cameron was still sleeping peacefully, curled up at his side. Thank God for days off. He studied the sleeping woman curiously.

Cameron's emotional demeanor lately and huge craving for salt could very well be explained by stress. He, however, had the sneaking suspicion that she could be pregnant. They'd always used condoms, but those were far from fool-proof. And she wasn't on the pill, so the possibility was there. Which was precisely why he'd found time last night to pull Andrew aside and ask him about it.

Andrew had confirmed what Cameron had told him in the first place. She'd munched on potato chips and pretzels during high stress times since her first year of college. The first year of med school brought about screaming matches and crying jags. She wasn't likely to be pregnant.

He was surprised that he felt … well … a bit disappointed. It made no sense for him to be disheartened that Cameron _wasn't_ pregnant. He should be _celebrating_, for Christ's sake, not wondering how it could have turned out. But there was a part of him that wanted to see Cameron as a mother. He couldn't quite see himself as a father… But somehow, he knew that she would make up for his shortcomings.

With a thoughtful frown, he turned to study her while she slept. She'd been pregnant before, he knew, and had miscarried. The miscarriage was most likely due to the stress of the knowledge that she was going to lose her husband. Yet, she wanted to be pregnant again. She still wanted a child.

And he was such a sucker for her… He'd give her anything she wanted.

She stirred and yawned, cracking an eye open to look at him. "What time is it?" she asked groggily.

He glanced at the clock. "Quarter after twelve," he informed her, and kissed her forehead. "Merry Christmas."

She smiled at him. "Merry Christmas." With another yawn, she rubbed her eyes and rested her head on his chest. "What are we going to do today?"

"Hmm… Sit around. Do something that doesn't require the use of brain cells?" He wrapped his arm around her and settled under the covers. "I was thinking about-"

Whatever it was he'd been thinking about would have to wait since the phone was ringing. He rolled his eyes and grabbed it, clicking it on. "House." He frowned instantaneously. "Hi, Mom…"

Cameron's eyes lit up with interest and she sat up, pulling the covers over her chest and watching House as he spoke to his mother. He looked … sheepish, really. He scratched the back of his neck and hunched over as he answered her questions.

"Nothing. I know that it's Christmas. Well, no, I've got… Mom…" He looked at Cameron and rolled his eyes. "I'm not spending it alone. I have someone over." He paused. "Who? Ah…"

Cameron smirked and sat back comfortably, watching House squirm. He'd said before that his mother was a human lie detector. She'd watch the woman work her magic and not even have to hear what was being said.

He laughed. "No, Mom, not a 'woman of the night.' Who the hell even uses that anymore? Well … besides embarrassed parents." He noticed Cameron's smug look and flicked her knee. "Yes, it's a woman. No, I'm not playing- Mom, I'm not trying to-" He sighed and rolled his eyes as he listened to whatever it was his mother was saying.

"Someone's in trouble," Cameron said in a singsong voice.

House grabbed his cane and waved it at her as a warning. "Yes, that was her. Who is she?" He paused awkwardly before grabbing his boxers up off of the floor and slipping into them. "Remember Dr. Cameron? You met her when… Yeah, that's her." Another pause, then a snort of laughter. "Yes, she's my employee. Probably not ethical, but since Cuddy doesn't mind…"

Cameron snorted and tugged on the back of his boxers. "Where do you think you're going?" she whispered into his free ear. "You got to hear me get bitched out by my mother before. It's my turn."

He glared at her. "No, Mom, it isn't a fling. Marriage? Yeah, actually. She said yes." He listened and cringed. "You really don't have to… Mom, it isn't… No. Okay. Fine. Seven. Love you, too. Bye."

Cameron looked at House curiously. "Seven?"

"My parents are in town, and they're coming over," he groaned.

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By a quarter to seven, Cameron had managed to whip up a dinner that, House had to admit, looked and smelled delectable. He'd told her that she didn't have to, but she'd insisted. When he asked if she was trying to impress his parents, she reminded him, for what had to be the millionth time, that she cooked when she was upset or nervous.

He couldn't believe she'd be nervous about meeting his parents since she'd already _met_ them. She pointed out that she'd met them as his employee, not his fiancé. He didn't see the difference, and she tossed a spatula at him.

He'd tidied up the living room, as he had promised her. Of course, it wasn't clean. It was still cluttered, but it was livable now. As he was about to sit on the couch, there was a knock at the door. "You're not going to pass out on me or anything, are you?" he asked Cameron suspiciously.

"No," she said with a small laugh. "Why would you think that?"

"You're wringing your hands," he pointed out before opening the door and welcoming his parents in. He received a hug and a kiss on the cheek from his mom, and nothing from his dad.

"It's so clean," his mother said before seeing Cameron standing in the doorway to the kitchen, wiping her hands on a dish towel. "And you must be the fiancé."

House looked at Cameron with a smile. "This is Allison."

She smiled and went to the woman, embracing her lightly. "I'm so glad you're marrying him. We thought he'd never do it."

Cameron laughed and hugged back. "Thanks," she said with a smile.

House's dad stood in the doorway, looking just as awkward as his son. "You sure you're old enough to be marrying?" he asked snidely.

"No, but she's old enough to drink," House retorted coldly. "So I keep her around."

His mother frowned. "Boys…" She turned back to Cameron. "I'm Blythe, if you don't remember. That's John. You can ignore most of what he says; he's grumpy."

Cameron smiled. "I made dinner, if you're hungry," she told both of them.

"She cooks?" John asked.

House rolled his eyes. "You _can_ ask her these things. She can speak very well. She's even capable of forming full sentences. We're working on her walking skills, though. They're not quite where they should be."

"Greg…" Blythe intoned gently. "Why don't we just sit down to a nice dinner? There's no need to snap at each other."

Cameron looked at Blythe in awe. The woman was … completely opposite of House.

"I'll help set the table," he volunteered. Cameron would be surprised if it weren't for the fact that she was positive he was only doing it to get away from his father.

"No, you sit with your father," Blythe said with a smile. "I'll help Allison."

Though he wanted to, House didn't object. He and John sat at the table, on opposite sides of the table, and Blythe went into the kitchen with Cameron.

"Those two are always like that," Blythe told the younger woman who was placing dinner on a serving platter. "I think Greg resents his father."

"I'm sure he does," Cameron said quietly. "I don't know why. He doesn't talk about it, and I'm not going to prod. He'll tell me when he's ready." She sprinkled on some final seasonings.

Blythe smiled as she found the plates, silverware, and glasses. "I thought there was something about you when I first met you," she said softly. She seemed to just have a natural, soft, motherly demeanor about her, and that put Cameron at ease. "You're young, but I don't think you're naïve. You're good for him."

Cameron smiled and studied House's mother. He'd said she was the typical housewife, and she wondered if that was true. Her own mother had worked full-time until Adam was born, and by that time, Cameron was busy with high school. "You can tell that from one meeting?" she asked.

Blythe just smiled serenely. "I'm a mother," she said simply, setting the silverware on the plates. "It's all about intuition." She watched Cameron busy herself in the kitchen and leaned comfortably against the counter-top. "Are you two planning on having children?"

"Um…" She turned off a burner and poured the sauce that she was making over the main dish. "Not planning on it, no. But if it happens, we're letting it."

Blythe grinned. "In other words?"

Cameron laughed lightly. "We aren't using condoms."

"Oh, good," she replied with a smile. "I'm glad that you two are just letting things happen. I'd like to see Greg as a father. He'd make a good one."

"I think so, too." Cameron marveled at how easy it was to talk to House's mother. She'd expected to be extremely nervous and polite. But things were comfortable instead of strained. "He doesn't, though."

"Well, Greg's father was very busy during his childhood. He probably fears that he'll be just like him." She smiled reassuringly. "He won't."

They served dinner, which was awkward. House wouldn't even look at his father, which distressed Cameron, even though she knew that it shouldn't. Blythe struck up conversation after a few moments of uncomfortable silence.

"So Allison… How did this whole thing start?" she asked kindly.

"My apartment was infested with roaches," House answered. "I needed a place to stay."

"Jim was still moving into his new place," Cameron explained. "Our two coworkers had problems, too. My place was the only one open."

"So he got a case of Stockholm Syndrome?" John asked with a quirked eyebrow.

Cameron's gaze slid over to the man. "I'd like to think I wasn't exactly his captor," she said flatly. She did not like this man one bit.

House frowned angrily at his father. "She may have tied me to the bed, but I swear I was a willing participant."

Cameron blushed furiously and sipped at her water, John choked on the bite of food he'd taken, and Blythe simply kept her serene smile in place. She knew how to handle Greg. After all, she'd raised him. "It's good to know you two have a healthy sexual relationship," she said peacefully.

Cameron flushed even more, if that was humanly possible, and excused herself from the table, going to hide in the bathroom. She was fine with Blythe; the woman was amazing and wonderful. Around John, however, she felt worse than she did around Stacy. Not only did she feel like a child, she felt like an idiot. He didn't even have to open his mouth to make her realize that he was being condescending. She felt sick to her stomach from the nerves that were flying through her.

Right as she bent over the toilet to vomit, House knocked lightly on the door and opened it slowly once he heard the retching noises. "Are you okay?" he asked with a frown.

She held her hair back and shook her head in the negative as she continued to dry-heave. Nothing was coming up, she just felt like it ought to be.

He came in and closed the door behind him, resting on the bathtub behind Cameron and holding her hair back for her. "Don't try to tell me this is due to nerves."

Once she felt that she wouldn't attempt to vomit again, she said back and wiped some sweat off of her forehead. "It is," she said glumly. "The night before I had my interview to come and work for you, I was so sick that I thought I'd have to call off."

"How the hell can you be a doctor with nerves like that?" he asked with a small laugh, letting go of her hair and running a washcloth under water before placing it on the back of her neck.

"It's only when I have to dwell on something," she explained. "Instantaneous decisions are one thing." She moved the cloth to her forehead. "Things that I have to dwell on are another."

"So … how would you tell the difference between your nerves and a possible pregnancy?" he asked suspiciously.

"For one, I'd actually vomit instead of dry-heave all over the place," she answered dryly. "And I'd feel weak and dizzy."

"You're the expert," he told her with a smirk, bending down to give her a kiss on the forehead. "Are you going to be okay, or should I ask Mom and Dad to leave? I don't mind asking Dad to leave…"

"Greg, your parents can stay. I just need a minute." She caressed his knee. "And I wouldn't mind if you would tell me what caused the rift between you and your father sometime."

"You might not, but I do," he grumbled.

"When you're ready," she said with a small smile. She stood and grabbed her toothbrush. Even though she hadn't actually gotten sick, she felt the need to brush her teeth. It was the idea that she _could have_ vomited that made her want to clean her mouth.

"I'll go back out and tell them you're fine."

She nodded as she brushed her teeth. This evening had turned out to be a disaster, in her eyes. Things hadn't gone as smoothly as she would have liked, and she had to remind herself once more that not every family was like hers.

She finished brushing her teeth, took in a long, calming breath that she slowly let out, and replaced her toothbrush in its holder. She had to get over these nerves… They were completely ridiculous. After squaring her shoulders, she went back to the table, where House had apparently cleaned up. Blythe and John were in the living room, on the couch, and House was waiting for Cameron before he sat in a chair.

"Are you feeling all right?" Blythe asked calmly.

"I'm fine, thank you," Cameron responded with a small smile. "Just needed to freshen up."

Blythe nudged John in the side, and the older man frowned. "Good to know you're okay," he stated insincerely.

Cameron resisted the urge to frown and went to House's side, sitting on the arm of the chair. "So what are you in town for?" she asked conversationally. "Greg's told me that you're originally from Maryland."

"We decided to head to Maine for a bit," Blythe answered. "We're driving up there and we thought it might be nice to stop by."

"You thought," John muttered.

"_We_ thought," Blythe retorted with a smile.

House shifted uncomfortably in his chair and frowned at his father. "I'm glad you stopped by, Mom." The deliberateness of addressing only his mother was there for a reason.

Blythe smiled sadly. "I'm glad we did, too."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blythe and John left around ten, and House and Cameron settled onto the couch quietly, both thinking about the visit from his parents.

House was upset. He was always upset when his father came within fifty feet of him. The two of them had an extremely volatile relationship, and it was mostly because House was so dissatisfied with the way that his father treated his mother. Blythe was a sweet woman; strong, humble, and loving. Any time he'd seen John with her in his youth, and that was a rare occurrence, something about the way John treated her never sat quite right with him.

It wasn't until he'd gone off to college that he realized his big beef with his father. The man was a condescending, arrogant jerk. House knew that he was like his father in that sense. What set them apart was the fact that House had a _right_ to be a condescending, arrogant jerk. John had no right or reason to be. He was nothing more than an Air Force pilot; he hadn't actually fought in any wars, he hadn't even been in any conflicts. House sometimes wondered why his father had joined in the first place, but the curiosity always died quickly. He didn't care why his father had joined.

He didn't care about his father.

With a small sigh and a frown, he put his arm around Cameron's shoulders and pulled her closer to him. She obliged without any conflict, throwing an arm around his waist and resting her head on his chest. Neither of them spoke; they simply sat there in the silence. Speaking would seem awkward right now, though neither could quite figure out why.

After fifteen minutes of the silence, Cameron finally spoke. "I never got to give you your gift," she told him softly, keeping her head on his chest.

He smiled. "It'll be Christmas for another hour and a half. You've got time."

She poked his side and went to their room, bringing out a long box. "I couldn't think of anything you didn't already have," she admitted sheepishly. "And a tie was just too cliché."

"And there's that whole thing of me not wearing them," he pointed out, taking the box. He opened it and grinned at what he saw inside. It was a new cane. It was heavier than his current one, and black. And, he noticed, was topped with a caduceus. "Where did you find something like this?"

With a smile she took the box and set it on the table. "I found the cane at an art show back in late November. I bought it and found someone to put the medical symbol as a topper."

"It's heavy," he commented, feeling the weight in his hands.

"It's rosewood," she informed him. "The topper is solid sterling silver instead of hollow. I thought it suited you better. You know… For all of those times you feel the need to smack Wilson with it."

He snorted and set the cane on the floor. "Now I can do _real_ damage." He went to the bookcase and pulled a small, black, velvet box out. It was the right size for a bracelet or necklace, and he handed it to Cameron.

She opened the box and her eyes widened. Inside was a golden necklace with a single, diamond pendant. With it was a pair of diamond earrings. "They're gorgeous…"

"They were my grandmother's," he explained quietly. "I inherited them. Obviously, I can't wear them. Well … I could, but it'd look _really_ funny."

Cameron laughed and nudged him with her elbow. "You don't have to ruin _every_ sweet moment you have with sarcasm."

"Oh, but I do," he replied, pulling her in for a kiss. "I just wouldn't be myself if I didn't."

"If you so much as _think_ about snarking on our wedding day, I'll kill you," she promised, brushing another kiss across his lips.

"I'll be sure to wait until after the wedding day to put you as the benefactor on my life insurance policy, then." She stuck her tongue out at him, and he nipped lightly at it before pulling her close once more. "Let's call in sick tomorrow," he suggested.

"Because that won't look suspicious."

"I don't want to go in tomorrow," he whined. "I want to sit at home all day and do nothing. Except you."

She laughed and rolled her eyes. "You're so damned romantic."

"You love my romantic side," he retorted, wrapping his arms around her. "If you were with Wilson, he'd buy you flowers. Chase would buy you drugs. Foreman would steal you a car. I give you facetiousness and expect nothing in return. Except really good food."

"I'm so lucky," she drawled snidely, cuddling close to him.

"I wasn't joking about calling in sick tomorrow."

She sighed. "I'd love to… But we have four patients on standby, Greg. We can't just let them suffer."

He frowned and closed his eyes. "We can," he replied, caressing her side. "You just refuse to."

"I care too much."

"Yeah." He kissed the top of her head in acceptance. "It's okay, I suppose. I think I can live with it."

She smiled contentedly. "I love you," she whispered.

He was silent for a few moments, simply holding her. She wasn't expecting a response from him, really. She knew that he loved her without him having to say it. But she was pleasantly surprised when he held her tightly to him. "Love you, too."


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer:** If I haven't owned them for the first twenty chapters...

**Chapter Twenty One**

The rest of December passed by in a flurry of activity, and January soon sent snow falling on the ground in New Jersey. Stacy was still working at the hospital, and House would make a face every time she walked by the diagnostics department. Cameron would scold him for it, and Chase and Foreman would laugh about the whole thing.

Rumors soon started circulating that there was something going on between Wilson and Cuddy. No one knew quite what… All they knew was that Wilson had stopped flirting with all of the nurses and was now spending most of his lunches in Cuddy's office. Cameron was betting that they were in a serious relationship. House jumped on the bandwagon with her. Foreman was wary about it, but he put in on House and Cameron's side. Chase bet against them, saying that Wilson and Cuddy were in an open relationship and that the two of them were both too obsessed with each other to treat it as such.

And patients came in, were treated, and were sent out within five days. There were the occasional tough cases, but nothing as overwhelming as what they'd had around Christmas. House and Cameron had settled into their soon-to-be-married life, and Chase and Foreman had finally become comfortable around the two of them, letting small touches and banter go over their heads.

Toward the end of January, Cuddy brought a case into the team and slapped it down on the table. "Fifteen year old girl with multiple sites of lipoma."

"Shouldn't this be going to Wilson?" Chase asked, chewing on a pencil.

"Not _lymphoma_, _lipoma_," House said, rolling his eyes and smacking Chase upside the head. "Growth of fat cells to cause a harmless lump." He looked to Cuddy. "What else?"

"Supraventricular tachycardia and increased appetite with increased weight loss."

"At fifteen?" House asked. "How much does she weigh?"

Foreman checked the file. "She weighed one hundred forty pounds at her last doctor's appointment, which was two weeks ago. She now weighs… Damn."

"She now weighs?" House pressed.

"Fifteen pounds less."

"So she's anorexic. This case is boring."

"Explain the supraventricular tachycardia," Cuddy challenged, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Since she's anorexic, her heart rate is going to go crazy trying to keep her metabolism running. Cuddy, this case is a breeze," he complained, tapping his cane on the ground. "Can I go get lunch now?"

"She's stopped having her periods," Cameron said as she read through the file. "Started them when she was nine."

"Again. Anorexia. I really am starving here… Heh. Ironic."

"There's more," Cameron snapped authoritatively. "She claims to be too hot."

House frowned. "It's the middle of January."

"She says it's too hot. Her family's been complaining," Cuddy supplied. "She keeps the air on in her room. Her family keeps the heating at seventy degrees and she says it's just too hot for her."

House snatched up the file. "You see, you take so long to get to the interesting things that I _still_ have to take lunch before I get to it," he told Cuddy, shaking his head in mock disappointment. "You really should know better." He looked to Chase. "Write the symptoms on the board. I can read your handwriting and you don't have loopy, girly G's. We'll go for the differential when I get back."

As he left the room, Cuddy stormed after him. "You _are_ a doctor, right? I didn't misread that 'MD' after your name when I hired you?"

"I recall getting a degree in medicine about twenty years ago," he responded with a roll of his eyes.

"Then get back in there and _do your job_. I hired you to save patients' lives, not make them wait until you grab lunch."

House stopped and turned to face Cuddy. "Is she currently at risk of dying? Like, right now, is she going to croak?"

"No, but that isn't-"

"That _is_ the point," he cut her off. "There is absolutely nothing I can do for her until we get a diagnosis on her. That includes a patient history, a differential session, and at least three discussions with her parents, where I'll be lied to. I'm sure that either Foreman or Cameron is already getting the history, and the parents can lie to them once. That leaves only three things for me to do. Can I go get lunch now?"

Cuddy frowned and stormed off.

"I'll take that as a yes!" he called after her.

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The end of the day came much slower than House would have liked. Cameron kept giving him sexy looks, and it was driving him nuts. He couldn't tell if she was doing it because she wanted some, or if she was doing it to piss him off. Either way, he was pretty sure they'd be having sex when they got home, so he wasn't too worried about it.

They'd begun treating the patient for hyperthyroidism, though he had the sneaking suspicion that she didn't actually have it. She wasn't anorexic, either. They had to be missing something.

Cameron stuck her head into his office and leaned in slightly. "Lynn's responding to the treatment," she informed him. "I'm off to get dinner. Do you want anything?"

"Come in here real quick," he said, nodding for her to come to his desk. She did so, thinking he had something he wanted to share about the case. She'd been fooled. He kicked his left foot out to trip her so that she fell forward, catching herself on the arms of his chair.

"House, are you out of your-"

He leaned in and brushed his lips over hers to shut her up. By this point, he didn't give a damn who saw. His hand traveled to the back of her neck to hold her to him as he kissed her slowly. "If you … continue … to give me the 'I want sex' looks…" He nipped at her bottom lip and was rewarded with a whimper. "I'm going to have to either force you to leave early or find a convenient broom closet." He sat back and admired his handiwork. Cameron was struggling to control her breathing, still holding onto the arms of his chair. "Capiche?"

"Got it," she murmured, moving away from his chair. She cleared her throat and looked away from him to gather her thoughts, which made him smirk. "So…" Another clearing of her throat. "Did you want anything for dinner?"

"Besides you?" he asked innocently. "No, I'm good. I'll eat when we get home." He winked at her as she left the office and, once she was gone, put his legs up, his arms behind his head, and sighed contentedly. He could definitely get used to this. His attention was drawn to the door, where Wilson soon came in.

"Got a minute?" he asked.

"I've got lots of minutes. My phone company tells me that I have over two thousand," he responded, putting his arms down. "What's up?"

"I need your advice… And if you give me sarcasm, I'm telling your fiancé."

"Ouch. That's blackmail, Jimmy."

"Well, I need an insightful House instead of a bitchy House, so deal with it," Wilson replied with a smile. "I think I might be hopping on your horse."

House raised an eyebrow and looked at Wilson oddly. "I don't own a horse. They don't really go well with cripples. We tend to fall off a lot." Wilson rolled his eyes and readjusted himself by fidgeting and moving his lab coat. Something big was up, and House could tell. His eyes narrowed. "The rumors are true, aren't they?" he asked slowly. "You've been dating Cuddy."

"Yes…"

"If you're thinking about marrying her-"

"No," Wilson said sincerely. "No way."

House sat back and waited patiently for an actual response. It had to do with Wilson and with Cuddy, and that was all he knew. Well this was going to be fun.

"You know she's been trying to get pregnant."

"And…?"

"I … was going to be a donor…"

House gave Wilson a look that said he obviously thought his best friend was beyond stupid. "Aren't you _sleeping_ with her?"

"House-"

"All you have to do is get rid of the condom, Jimmy. I swear to God… _How_ the hell did you graduate med school? That's basic stuff."

"House, shut up for a minute, okay?" Wilson huffed, looking nervous and tense. "We _did_ sack the condoms. She's…"

"Oh, man… You knocked up Cuddy!" House exclaimed with a laugh. "That's awesome."

"Shut _up_!" Wilson exclaimed with an awkward grin. "I don't know what to do. She's really happy about it. She doesn't want marriage, either, and that's fine. But I mean… It's a _kid_, House."

"It's _your_ kid, Jimmy." He studied his friend with a smirk. "Ha! I get married and you have a kid. It's so perfect."

Wilson laughed and scratched the back of his neck. "It's … weird. Knowing that I'm going to be a father."

"It _is_ weird to know that you're going to be a daddy. Thank God it's not me," he joked, tossing a ball into the air.

"I thought Allison wanted kids?"

"She does. We're not actively trying," he said with a shrug. "We're not even married yet, Jim. Duh."

Wilson rolled his eyes. "You're so mature…"

"Everyone loves my maturity level." Chase walked into the office after that statement, and House nodded to him. "Chase thinks my maturity level is beyond compare. Don't you, Chase?"

"It's beyond something," he replied. "Lynn's condition has stabilized and Foreman pulled the short straw to stay for the night. I'm heading out."

"See you tomorrow," House replied with a nod. "Be sure to tell Foreman that if something goes wrong and he calls me, I will not hesitate to kill him."

Chase smirked. "I'll relay the message."

House turned to Wilson and sighed. "I love my ducklings," he said happily. "They're like dogs… Only better listeners."

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House had kept to his promise and grabbed something for dinner when he and Cameron got home. Cameron went to the couch and pulled a few magazines out of her bag. House sat next to her and saw that she was looking at bridal magazines. "Looking for a dress?" he asked before taking a bite of the leftover Partan Bree that Cameron had made a few nights ago.

"Mmhmm," she replied. "I have no idea what I want… I just know that I want it to look nice. Something … flowy."

He quirked an eyebrow. "Flowy?" he asked. "What the hell is 'flowy,' anyway?"

Cameron laughed and nudged him lightly. "It just has to sit right. I don't know how to describe it."

"Obviously," House responded with a small laugh. He took one of the magazines and flipped through it as he ate. "I like this one." He tossed the magazine down on the table, opened to the page that he'd been looking at, and finished his dinner.

The dress that he'd set in front of Cameron was made of satin and lace. It was sleeveless and had a two foot train in the back. There was a pattern of flowers at the bust that worked its way around the dress, with thorns sticking out of the vines. There was no denying that it was a gorgeous dress. But something about it didn't sit right with her. Probably that huge train.

"It's pretty," she said honestly. "But I don't think it's right."

"It's a dress, Allison."

"How many times are we going to get married, Greg?"

"Once," House mumbled, setting his bowl on the table.

"Then it has to be perfect the first time, doesn't it?" She curled her legs under her and flipped through the magazine in her hand. "We need to talk about invitations and flowers and the caterer, still," she informed him. "And the band." She looked at him and cocked her head to the side thoughtfully. "Do we want a band or a DJ?"

"Allison," he said with a small laugh. "It's January. The wedding isn't for another five months."

"If we get things locked in _now_, we won't have to worry about them _later_," she pointed out, flipping through the magazine again. "We do have to pick where we're going to have it, though. And we need to reserve it before March, just to be safe. I want to get our first choice."

He smirked and kissed her on the cheek before taking his bowl to the kitchen and rinsing it. "We'll talk about a place to have it on Sunday, when neither of us has work on the brain. Sound good?"

"Sounds great," she told him with a smile. Things were shaping up quite nicely for the two of them, and neither of them could be happier. Cameron would show it, and everyone would know that she was ecstatic about the whole thing. House would keep it inside; something just for himself. But no one would mistake the fact that they were, indeed, elated.


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer:** I want them SO BAD! But I just can't get my hands on them. :-(

**Chapter Twenty Two**

By February, they'd chosen where the wedding would be held and had started talking about the invitations. So far, they'd been very good about keeping the wedding talk at home. However, as they got another tough case, they'd decided to bring a few things to work with them to look at during downtime. Cuddy hadn't been pleased with the idea, but she wasn't going to bother to tell them not to do it. Everyone at the hospital knew about the wedding by now, anyway. It was pointless to try and cover it up.

Cameron still hadn't found the right dress, and House could tell that she was starting to get edgy about it. She was eating potato chips like they might disappear if she didn'tdevour themquickly enough, and she was ordering fries with lunch every day. He wasn't too worried about her health, because she had settled back into jogging every morning. He would occasionally take them away from her, though. It worried him that she could eat three family sized bags of potato chips in one day.

Wilson and Cuddy had kept their baby hush-hush. House and Cameron knew, Foreman and Chase had suspicions, and Wilson and Cuddy continued to let them guess. The two of them had decided not to move in together, not to marry, but that they should have an equal part in the child's life. This upset Cameron, but House pointed out that if Wilson married Cuddy, the relationship would probably end in divorce anyway. Cameron frowned, but accepted the truth. Wilson did have a roaming eye.

Chase had finally gotten the guts to ask Cameron and House if they'd be having kids. House reminded Chase that it really wasn't any of his business. Cameron informed Chase later that they weren't actively trying to get pregnant, but were letting it happen if it was going to.

Foreman informed House that Cameron had told, and all hell broke loose.

"Why'd you tell him?" House asked with a frown. "It really _isn't_ any of his business."

Sitting in the chair in front of his desk, Cameron rolled her eyes and crossed her legs. "Because he's my friend," she replied. "And he was asking, just like any friend would."

"He was being nosy."

"You think everyone's being nosy, House." She always called him 'House' when she was irritated. "I don't see why it's such a big deal that I told him, anyway. You told Wilson."

"Wilson is a- Oh, you," he said snidely. "Trying to trick me. It's different with Wilson."

"How is it any different?"

"Because Wilson is your friend, too. See? It's mutual friendship."

She sighed irritably and her foot twitched, which showed House how aggravated she was getting with him. "Well, then. I'll be sure not to tell any of my friends that aren't also your friends about anything that has to do with our relationship. Sound fair?"

"Now you're just getting bitchy," he said calmly. "I don't like Chase."

"I know you don't. But he's my friend and colleague and I don't mind him knowing whether or not I'm going to have your baby."

"Let me rephrase," House said slowly, taking his cane and pacing behind his desk. "I don't like Chase knowing anything about our relationship."

"Why?" Cameron asked, exasperated. "You can hate Chase knowing all you want, but until you give me a valid reason for not talking to him, I'm going to continue to report to him just like I would to any of my other _friends_."

"It's _Chase_. Do I need another reason?"

"Yeah," she deadpanned, standing and heading for the door. "You do." She paused before opening the door. "I don't mind not telling him," she said honestly, her voice soft. "But you need to give me a damned good reason to keep something from a friend." She left on that comment, and House glared at the door.

Why didn't he want Chase knowing? Chase had put his paws all over Cameron at one point, and House was positive that the Aussie still had a thing for his fiancé. And he definitely wasn't happy with Cameron sharing their personal information with someone who was still trying to get into her pants.

Cameron did a wonderful job of ignoring House for the rest of the day. Foreman noticed, and stayed out of it. Chase didn't seem to notice at all. And House noticed. Oh, but he noticed. He wasn't going to tell her why he didn't want her talking to Chase about their relationship. He refused. She ought to _know_ without him having to tell her. Honestly.

The ride home was quiet, too. Was she still trying to ignore him? Even in the car? That was ridiculous. "Allison."

"Greg."

He frowned. "What are you so pissed about?"

"You know what I'm upset about," she replied calmly. "You still haven't given me a valid reason not to discuss our relationship with Chase. It's not like I tell him your dick size, so I don't know why you're getting so riled about the whole thing."

"It's feeling a little icy in this car." He reached to turn the heat up, but Cameron smacked his hand away.

"Stop being an ass about this and tell me why you don't want me talking to Chase."

"You know why," House responded, annoyed.

"No, I don't!" Cameron exclaimed, tearing her eyes off of the road long enough to glare at him. "If I knew the answer, I wouldn't continue to ask the question!"

"He still wants you!" House finally exclaimed, glaring right back. "He still wants you and you don't see it. That infuriates me."

"He does not."

"You see? I'm right. You don't see it."

"House, you're making a big deal out of nothing. Even if he _does_ still want me, it shouldn't matter."

"Why shouldn't it? You're giving the gory details of our sex life to him and he probably thinks you're flirting."

"I'm not giving him any details!" she yelled, pulling into an empty parking lot so that they could argue without getting into a car accident. "He asked if we were having kids, and I answered. I didn't tell him that you like it when I tie your hands down or that I like the stubble on your chin because it feels _really_ good against the insides of my thighs. I told him that we weren't actively trying to get pregnant, but had nixed the condoms to let it happen if it's going to. So stop being a jealous asshole."

"Is that why you always moan when I'm down there? I thought it had something to do with my tongue, but-"

"House," she snapped with a frown.

"What are you going to call me once you have my last name?" he asked curiously. "House One?"

"Who said I was taking your last name?"

The car went eerily silent as House gave her an unreadable look. "That was a joke," he said strongly. "That had better be a joke."

Cameron was silent, frowning out the window.

"Allison."

"It wasn't a joke," she murmured. "I wanted to upset you, so I said it." She paused, looking at the steering wheel and tapping it with her thumbs. "You're so … possessive. Chase isn't a threat to you."

"I don't consider him one," House snapped angrily.

"Yes, you do," Cameron snapped back. "You spend hours doing whatever you can to make him feel like dirt and it's because you want him to think that he's not a threat to you. But you only make it more obvious. Why can't you be comfortable with the fact that I'm not going to make the mistake of sleeping with him again?"

"The marriages I've seen have been my parents' and Wilson's. My parents are obviously far from happy and ... well ... _James Wilson_." He paused and frowned at her. "So you tell me whether or not I'm supposed to be comfortable."

"You are," she said coldly. "Because I'm not Wilson. Are you forgetting that I refused to cheat on my husband, even as he was dying? When I fall in love with someone, I devote myself to them. Don't _ever_ insinuate that I could cheat on you."

"I wasn't trying to-"

"Yes, you were." She took the keys out of the car and handed them to House. "I'll see you at home," she said, opening the door to get out.

"What are you doing?" he asked, getting out with her.

"I'm walking," she replied softly. "I need to cool off. I'll see you at home."

"You're not walking home in this weather," he bit out. "Get back in the car, Allison."

"I need to walk," she told him, placing her hand to his chest to keep him away from her. "It's not that bad out here. I'll see you when I get home." And she walked away, flipping her scarf over her neck before placing her hands in her coat pocket.

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House's original plan had been to follow Cameron. But he knew that it was way too obvious to follow her in a Jetta. Not only that, it would only piss her off even more. She had her cell phone on her and she was a big girl who knew her way home.

So why was he pacing in the living room, worrying about her not even five minutes after getting home?

She shouldn't be out walking at this time of night, first of all. A gorgeous woman walking near a college campus later than nine at night? Bad idea. He continued to pace, moving from the living room to the kitchen.

He wasn't jealous. She had no right calling him jealous. There was nothing wrong with him hating Chase's guts for taking advantage of Cameron. If she'd called House to come over instead of Chase, she would have found herself alone in her apartment. House was allowed to want Chase to keep away from Cameron. He was _allowed_, damn it.

Another five minutes passed, and House pulled out his cell phone and dialed Cameron's number. "Where are you?" he demanded when Cameron answered.

"About five blocks away," she answered, and then hung up.

He paced some more. She hung up on him! She couldn't possibly still be upset that he was upset that Chase was stupid enough to not respect her. He couldn't help the fact that he despised men who took advantage of women, could he? Another five minutes passed and he took his phone out again, dialing Cameron's number once more.

"I thought you said you were five blocks away," he grumbled when Cameron answered.

"I said about," she replied. "I was farther away than I thought."

"Well where are you now?"

"Worried?"

"Maybe."

"I'll be home soon."

He could hear the smile in her voice before she hung up the phone. He shut his own and then threw it across the room. It was ridiculous how Cameron got to him. Absolutely ridiculous. He loved it.

After another five minutes, his phone rang. He was able to locate it (teetering on the edge of the kitchen sink) and heard Cameron's voice when he opened it.

"It's really cold out here."

"You're the one who wanted to walk."

"You pissed me off."

"I know."

"You're not going to apologize, are you?"

"Do I ever?" He heard her sigh.

"I'm still upset with you."

"I still don't see why."

"You know what? It's not so bad out here anymore. I might call Wilson. See if he wants to go for a walk."

"Okay, you can't try to make me jealous just to prove a point. That's juvenile."

"Hold on a minute." There was a pause and then she was back. "Chase is on the other line. I'll call you back." And she hung up.

House stared at his phone, eyes narrowed. She was proving her point. That sneaky little… He grabbed his jacket and the keys to his bike. There was no way in hell he was going to sit around here and wait for her. He was going out to get her.

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After hanging up with House, Cameron stood in front of a small diner, leaning against a light pole. Yes, she'd used a phone call from Chase as an excuse to hang up on House. But it was proving her point; he was jealous, and he was being an ass about it. She could stay out here all night, even if it was just to prove a point. He'd called her passive-aggressive once, and she could definitely be that way.

As she stood there with her arms crossed, a man pulled up in a small, sporty car and rolled the window down. "Need a ride?" he asked.

Cameron rolled her eyes. "I'm waiting for someone."

"I pay well."

"I'm not a whore," she snapped. "I'm waiting for my fiancé."

"I'm into role-play, too," the man leered.

"Well as long as you're into role-play…" She walked toward the car and stood out of the man's arm's reach. "I'm a doctor. I'm very good at what I do. In fact, I have a syringe in my pocket that's filled with Viagra."

"That's what I like…"

Cameron reached into her pocket and pulled out her hand-held mace. "Should I use it, or are you going to leave me alone?"

"Bitch," the man growled, pulling away.

"My fiancé likes it!" she yelled after the idiot. "Moron…" She turned and saw none other than the aforementioned fiancé. "Hey."

"That was a cute stunt you pulled," House murmured, taking Cameron's hand. "Where'd you learn to be such a cold bitch?"

"I went to the Greg House School of Sarcasm and Anger. Heard of it?"

He led them to his bike, tossing her the helmet. "I hear they've added jealousy to the title," he answered, waiting for her to get on behind him.

She did so, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist. "Have they, now?"

"Yeah." He revved the engine. "But they've added pride, too," he informed her before taking off.

Once they were home, he went to the bathroom and started a warm bath for Cameron, checking the temperature before going back into the living room. When he got there, she was already stripping out of her coat, gloves, and scarf and was working on getting her shoes off.

"I started you a bath," he told her, nodding toward the bathroom.

"Thanks." She took her clip out of her hair and shook her head to let it fall down her back. "We still need to discuss this."

"No, we really don't," he said simply, sitting on the couch and putting his leg up. "I don't want you disclosing anything about us to Chase. You don't mind disclosing information to Chase. There isn't going to be a common ground here."

She felt defeated. "Greg, we _can_ find a common ground here. All I want you to do is admit that you _do_ feel threatened by Chase."

"And since I _don't_ feel threatened by him, that would be a lie. Aren't relationships supposed to be honest or something like that?" He studied the flustered, angry woman standing before him with her hands on her hips. "Why to you continue to attempt to analyze me?"

"Maybe it's because I want to understand you!" she exclaimed, tossing her arms in the air. "Have you forgotten that we're getting married in, oh, four months? It'd be great if I could understand the man that I'm planning on spending the rest of my life with."

"You've got the rest of your life to figure me out," he pointed out. "That's got to be a plus."

She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her agitation was starting to show and she was trying, really trying, to keep it under control. As she opened her mouth to speak again, House cut her off.

"I don't want you speaking with Chase because I don't like Chase," he said slowly. "He's a spoiled, narcissistic brat who thinks that it's okay to sleep with a woman under a lot of stress who's just taken drugs. You don't think he felt any remorse over that, do you?"

"I…"

"He took advantage of you, Allison. That's why I don't like him. If he wanted a wild woman, he could have called an escort service. He should have turned around and walked right the hell back out your door, but he didn't. He stayed there and he slept with you. And he had no right to do it." He tapped his fingers on the back of the couch and waited for his comments to sink in before continuing. "He doesn't respect you."

"He… That isn't true." She thought about House's remarks and frowned. "That's not true."

"Oh, he respects your mind," House said with a nod. "Everyone at Princeton-Plainsborough respects your mind. But he doesn't respect your body or you as a person. My wanting you to keep our relationship mum around him is perfectly justified."

Cameron stood there silently, turning over the statements in her head. What House had said was true, she knew. And it hurt her to know that. She shook her head and looked at him with crushed eyes. "Why couldn't you have said that before?" she asked softly. "Why wait until I explode?"

"Allison, you know it isn't easy to get me to admit to anything," he said with a roll of his eyes. "I just don't want you pissed at me. It makes for awkward living and you'd make me sleep on the couch."

"I would not," she scoffed, going toward the bathroom. "I just wouldn't let you touch me."

House cringed when he heard the bathroom door slam. Cameron was very, very pissed at him over nothing. Well … he felt it was over nothing. He didn't tell her never to speak to Chase again, so what was her problem? Their relationship was just that: _theirs_. If he didn't want her talking to Chase about it, that should be respected. What was the big deal?

He turned on the television and waited for Cameron to get out of the bath. A part of him realized that he could possibly be overreacting. But the part of him that was always right reminded the other part that … well … he was always right. He wasn't overreacting; she was.

When Cameron was done with her bath, she threw on one of House's shirts and a pair of her own pajama pants and went into the living room to sit for a while. She'd done some analyzing of her own and had come to one conclusion: House was overreacting. So she sat down next to him and watched whatever program he had on.

"Nice bath?" he asked.

"It was warm," she responded, keeping her eyes on the screen. "You could've been in there with me."

He stared at her in astonishment. "You're still pissed?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes."

"Well how long are you planning on being that way?"

She glared at him. "Until it blows over. You see, if we just drop it, it'll blow over, and I'll stop being angry."

"You'll dwell on it," he accused.

"Am I dry-heaving?" she snapped.

He blinked. "No…"

"Then I'm obviously not dwelling on it. Just let it drop, okay?" She snatched the remote from his hand and flipped through the channels for something better to watch than a movie where everything exploded.

"Subject dropped," he muttered, resting his head on his fist. This was going to be a long night.


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer:** I still don't own them. And I have a feeling that if I DID, the show wouldn't get NEARLY as good ratings as it does. 'Cause I'd keep playing with 'em when they were supposed to be working. ;-)

**Chapter Twenty Three**

March was a calmer month than February. There was very little bickering between House and Cameron, and the incident with Chase had been all but forgotten. Cameron respected House's wishes by telling Chase less of what he wanted to know, but still kept him informed on the bigger things. Like where the wedding was taking place.

They'd found a beautiful, historic inn and rented it for the wedding and the reception instead of the place they'd originally settled on. It wasn't too far out of downtown Princeton, so everyone would be able to make it. Cameron had fallen in love with the place the first time she laid eyes on it. House had been leery, but agreed after seeing the inside and especially after the special price that the innkeepers were offering for the wedding.

By mid-march, everyone in the hospital knew that Cuddy was pregnant. After all, the woman was nearly unbearable to be around. When she wasn't getting sick, she was screaming at people. House finally broke down and asked Cameron to go calm the woman. Chase, Foreman, and even Wilson begged her to do it. After glaring at House, Cameron agreed and soon found herself in Cuddy's office.

"Hey… Got a minute?" she asked gently.

Cuddy glanced at the clock. "I've got twenty before a board meeting. Need something?"

"The men upstairs nominated me to come and talk to you," she admitted, coming in and taking a seat. "You scare them."

Cuddy frowned. "They'd be like this, too, if they had an organism growing in their stomachs."

Cameron grinned in full agreement. "Yes, but since they'll never _have_ an organism growing in their stomachs, they'll never really understand."

With a sigh, the older woman sat back in her chair, giving up on the file she'd been working on. "I've tried everything," she said dejectedly. "Saltines for the morning sickness, fruit instead of chocolate for the sweets cravings… I've even tried drinking copious amounts of water. Nothing's working on the mood swings."

"Try McDonald's," Cameron suggested with a shrug. "It's not healthy and it's actually pretty disgusting when you aren't pregnant. But here's a secret: junk food can be your best friend with a baby in your belly."

"I'm trying to stay away from it…"

"If you want the mood swings to stop, you've got to eat the junk. I promise you'll feel so much better."

Cuddy smiled at Cameron. "I understand that it's a sensitive topic… But… James mentioned that House had said that you'd miscarried before. How long were you-?"

"I'd almost finished the first trimester," she answered briefly.

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to pry…"

"You did," Cameron said with a small smile. "But it's okay. Just … take my word on it. Run out and get yourself a Big Mac before your meeting. It makes a world of difference."

Cuddy debated running out before finally grabbing her purse and keys to her car. "Thank you." She paused and looked around her office before settling her gaze on Cameron again. "Why don't you come with me? I know you guys don't have any patients right now, and you, unlike your fiancé, have completed your clinic hours for the week."

Cameron grinned. "Sure, why not? I could stand to get out of this place for a little bit."

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House sat in his office with Wilson and Foreman. Chase was off doing his clinic hours, which suited House just fine. Wilson was twiddling his thumbs and Foreman was tapping his foot absently on the floor.

"Maybe Cuddy's killed her," Foreman suggested. "She seems to be in that kind of mood…"

"She hasn't killed her," Wilson said with a roll of his eyes. "I'm sure Cameron's doing an excellent job of calming Lisa down."

"You _hope_ she is," House retorted with a smirk. "What's it like, dealing with that? I mean, it has to suck."

"I don't live with her," Wilson reminded his friend with a smile. "I don't have to deal with it all the time."

"That really strikes me as weird," Foreman put in. "You got her pregnant, but she doesn't want you living with her? I thought women wanted the fathers of their children in their lives."

"It's different for me and Lisa. We've agreed that I'll be a part of the child's life, and I'm taking care of all of the costs of her prenatal care. I help set up appointments and everything. We just don't live together and aren't getting married. If she'd gone with a sperm donor, she would have gotten a lot less out of it."

"True."

At that point, Cameron came into House's office with Cuddy. Both of them had milkshakes from McDonald's and were laughing hysterically at something.

House grabbed up a book and hid his face behind it. "Quick! Take cover! The witches are cackling!"

Cameron tried to control her laughter and threw a balled-up napkin at House before continuing her story to Cuddy. "So then she tells me that babies are a gift from God and reminds me that beating them is wrong. I'm like… 'I haven't even pushed it out yet. You don't have to give me advice on how to take care of it.' The best thing about all of it…" She started laughing uncontrollably again. "…is that she's a lesbian!"

Cuddy wiped tears from her eyes, she'd been laughing so hard. "You tell me this before I have to go into a board meeting?" she asked, trying desperately to control her laughter. "That's not fair!"

House, Foreman, and Wilson exchanged confused looks and Wilson sunk lower in his chair. Foreman looked for a place to hide while House peeked over his book at the two crowing women. "You two done with the giggle-fest?"

Cuddy sighed and checked her watch. "For now," she said with a smile before pinning her eyes on House. "Go do your clinic hours, you lazy ass."

The men watched as Cuddy exited before turning their gazes slowly to Cameron.

"What … did you do to her?" Wilson asked hesitantly.

"Bought her McDonald's," Cameron answered merrily before sipping at her own milkshake. "It's a pregnant woman's best friend. That, and pizza."

"She was trying to have a healthy pregnancy," Wilson scolded.

"There's a difference between a healthy pregnancy and eating healthy during a pregnancy," Cameron replied with a shrug. "The latter of the two never actually happens." She polished off her milkshake and tossed the empty cup into the trash basket. "Do we have a patient yet?" she asked House.

"No one's referring. I have all of the doctors afraid of me again." He tossed a ball up and down. "Life is good."

"Life is boring," Foreman complained. "What am I doing here if I don't have work?"

"Go up to neurology," Cameron suggested. "I ran into Dr. Parkins and he said that they could use some help up there with a case. Not with diagnosing it," she told House when he opened his mouth to speak. "With treating it."

Foreman shrugged. "I'll go up there, then. Page me if we get a case."

House nodded and watched as Foreman left. "And then, there were three," he said, setting the ball down and looking at Cameron and Wilson. "We need something to do."

"Don't bother the psych patients," Wilson warned. "Lisa might kill you."

"Damn." He looked at Cameron. "Afternoon delight?"

Cameron snorted and left the office to sit on her laptop in the diagnostics room. Wilson grinned and looked at House. "Yeah… She's all over you all day long."

"She wants me," House replied with a smirk.

"She wants you, all right," Cameron drawled from the doorway. "She wants you to go find a case."

House pouted. "Come on. A quickie in the office is kinky."

"If we're going to have a quickie in the office, I want to be fucked over a desk. And you're not likely to be able to do that with your leg. So … no afternoon delight."

Wilson laughed and got a glare from House. "She so told you."

"Go deal with your pregnant lover, Jimmy. See if she wants some ice cream."

"That's all you've got?" Wilson asked. "That was a lame retort."

"Fine. I'll be mean about it. Want me to call your three ex-wives and let them know that you could've given them children if they just _hadn't_ married you?"

"Greg," Cameron scolded.

"He taunted me!" House exclaimed.

Wilson rolled his eyes before looking at Cameron. "Good luck with that one," he said, standing. "He's a real charmer."

After Wilson left, House's gaze slid to Cameron. "So do you want to…?"

"No," she said with a small laugh, and went back to her laptop to do some more work.

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That evening after dinner, Cameron frowned and rubbed her stomach. When House asked if she was okay, she nodded, claimed it was just some indigestion, and took a couple of antacids. They snuggled on the couch, watching a movie when Cameron's hand moved to her stomach again. "I don't feel well…" she said with a frown. "Have I got a fever?"

House held the back of his hand to her forehead and cheeks before frowning himself. "Doesn't feel like it." He felt around her neck for any swelling and then shook his head. "You seem fine. Maybe dinner just didn't agree with you… Did you eat something at McDonald's that would make you sick?"

"I just had some fries and a milkshake," she responded, continuing to rub her stomach. "I'll be right back."

When he heard the door to the bathroom shut, he frowned. Then he heard the retching. Then the vomiting. Great… He got up and went into the bathroom, sitting on the tub and holding her hair back once more. "This is nice," he said as she emptied her stomach. "A beautiful, romantic night at home with my fiancé. I've dreamed of this."

She wanted to tell him to stop with the sarcasm, but she every time she tried, she had to vomit again. She had to give him credit for sitting in here with her and holding back her hair. It was a very sweet thing to do. Of course, she wouldn't point that out. He'd probably never do it again if she did.

"That sound is like music to my ears," he continued. Humor was the only way he could think of to make her feel better. And he'd use it as much as possible. "Can you do that in a higher pitch?"

When she was sure that she was done, she rested her forearms on the seat and took deep breaths. "I'm tempted to smack you."

"Just don't puke on me and you can do whatever you please." He ran a washcloth under cool water and placed it on the back of her neck, pulling her hair back with the clip that she kept on the sink. "Feel better?"

"Yeah, actually," she replied, flushing the toilet and rinsing her mouth with water in the sink before brushing her teeth. "That milkshake just didn't sit right, I guess."

"A milkshake does that to you?"

She spit out the toothpaste before putting more on the brush. "It can. You know that I don't usually drink milk. Milk is heavy."

He leaned on his cane and watched as she brushed her teeth vigorously. "It couldn't be something like… Oh, I don't know… Pregnancy?"

She looked thoughtful as she rinsed her mouth with water once more. After spitting, she filled a cup with Listerine and dropped her toothbrush in it to clean it. "It could be," she allowed. "But I don't want to get my hopes up."

"Mmm. Gonna get checked out?"

"I'll buy a home pregnancy test if it makes you feel better," she said with a grin.

"Me? I'm trying to put your mind at ease," he told her honestly. "Besides, you work in a hospital. Get the real test if you're going to do one."

She rolled her eyes and led the way back into the living room. "If I'm sick again within the week, I'll get a test. Deal?"

"Deal." After all, it was only Tuesday.

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By Thursday, Cameron had picked up a home pregnancy test. She hadn't told House; she sort of wanted to keep it a secret. Even though she hadn't gotten sick again, she was extremely curious. After work, she went into the bathroom and took the test while House cooked dinner. Him cooking was a rare occurrence, and she'd take complete advantage of it.

She followed the directions on the box and set the test on the side of the sink, tapping her fingers as she waited for it to give her an answer. She was so nervous… What if it was positive? They had three months until the wedding, so she wasn't worried that she'd be waddling down the aisle. Maybe they could even have the reception and the shower at the same time or something. They could be creative.

And what if it was negative? Well, they could just go along like they had been, couldn't they? House didn't even have to know that she'd taken the test and gotten a negative result. She'd just pitch it into the trash can and forget about it.

But if it was positive… Her hands went to her stomach and she smiled. A baby. She wanted a child so badly. And House thought he would be a bad father… She couldn't wait to prove him wrong. He wouldn't be orthodox, that was definite; but he wouldn't be bad. She just knew he wouldn't be.

Five minutes passed and she took a deep breath before looking at the test. When she saw the test, she choked back tears. She knew she shouldn't have gotten her hopes up. She tossed the test in the trash, washed her hands, and went into the kitchen.

House saw her and his eyes narrowed. Her eyes were puffy. "You've been crying?" he asked, expecting her to answer.

"It's nothing," she told him with a weak smile, looking at what he was making.

"Allison…"

She sighed and picked a noodle out of the pot of spaghetti and nibbled on it. "I took a pregnancy test," she muttered quietly. "Negative."

He smirked at her. "Well don't cry about it," he said, handing her a cookie sheet with garlic bread on it so that she could put it in the oven. "I'm pretty sure we can try again."

She gave a soft laugh and kissed him. "You're only optimistic because it means more sex."

"Yes," he replied immediately. "Sex is a great reason to be optimistic."

"Leave it to you." She sniffed the spaghetti sauce and grabbed the garlic. "You're always so light on the garlic. Are you afraid it's going to burn you?" she teased.

"Garlic's potent, okay? I don't want to use too much. You'd be vomiting up dinner again."

She grinned and added a handful of garlic. "You have to measure the amount of garlic to the amount of sauce. If you've got a big pot of sauce like this one, you can add up to two handfuls without it tasting too strong."

He stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "This is why you do the cooking. I do the video game playing. We both do the healing people thing." He dropped small, light kisses along her neck.

She smiled and turned to brush a kiss over his lips. "I really want a baby," she confessed quietly.

He held her and rested his chin on her shoulder. "I know you do. But you have plenty of time. We won't even be official for another three months."

"I know…" She stirred the sauce and sighed again. "I just… Going out for lunch with Lisa the other day reminded me of how much I wanted one."

"You want to take a week of vacation time and have lots and lots of sex? We could do that," he offered. "Foreman and Chase can figure out a few cases. Wilson could take over diagnostics for a while."

Cameron laughed and pushed him away. "You're a sex fiend."

"I'm getting married to a thirty-year-old woman. I'm allowed to be a sex fiend. Hell, I'm _expected_ to be." He nipped at her neck playfully before heading for the living room. "I'll be in there doing my thing, playing the games. You can do your thing in here, cooking food. We'll just do our things."

She laughed and tossed a spoon at him. Leave it to him to make her feel so much better.


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer:** Don't own 'em or make money from 'em. Though I'd pay for a night with Hugh Laurie... Rawr.

**Chapter Twenty Four**

As April rolled around and the wedding got closer, Cameron became Super Bitch. House was tempted to make a superhero just for her. Super Bitch: can wither a man's erection with a single look. Though he enjoyed watching her bitch out Chase; it was a truly beautiful sight.

They were sitting in the diagnostics room, waiting for some lab results on their current patient when Chase turned to Cameron, who was hunched over five different types of invitations and trying to decide which one she liked best. "So … how's the planning coming along?" he asked her.

House had been getting a cup of coffee and turned to watch them, blowing on the coffee to cool it.

"It's … coming along," she answered absently, holding up two invitations and glaring at them. "What the hell is the difference?"

House looked closely at them and took a sip of his coffee. "One has little flowers on it. I don't want flowers."

She tossed the flowered invitation in the trash and looked at the remaining four. "This is ridiculous. We should have hired a planner."

"I know a woman…" Chase offered.

Cameron's gaze moved to Chase. "Well it's too late _now_," she said slowly, speaking as she might to a toddler. "The wedding is in three months and I'm over halfway done with all of the planning myself."

"I was just offering," he grumped back.

"Don't get pissy with me," she snapped. "I'm too irritated right now to deal with your pissy attitude."

"I wasn't-"

"Why don't you go condition your hair or something?" Cameron asked snidely. "It's looking a bit dry."

"Did you just insult his hair?" House laughed, setting his coffee cup down. "You just insulted Chase's _hair_."

"I'll insult your pride if you don't watch it," she snapped at House. "Weddings shouldn't be stressful! This is stupid!"

"Haven't you done this before?" Foreman asked upon entering the room.

"Dean and I had hired a planner!"

House's brow furrowed thoughtfully. "Why didn't we hire a planner?" he asked curiously.

"You didn't want to," Cameron said through gritted teeth. "And now I'm stuck doing all of this damned work while you lounge on the couch every goddamned night."

"Kitty has claws," House replied with a smirk. "Every time I give you an idea, you say it isn't right. Hence me sitting on the couch." He normally would be very reluctant to have this conversation in front of Chase and Foreman. However, he knew that Chase would say something and get bitched out by Cameron again. So he stayed here for the ride.

"You _could_ continue to put in suggestions," Chase said matter-of-factly.

"I'm sorry, am I marrying you?" Cameron asked Chase irritably. "No. I'm not. So please keep the commentary to yourself."

"Aww… She said 'please' to you." House went behind Cameron and set a hand on her shoulder. He looked at the invitations and pointed to a baby blue one with small, white patterns around the outside. "I like that invitation."

Cameron threw the other three away.

He glanced at the caterers' cards that she'd laid out and pointed to two of them. "They had the best food, if I remember." He picked one of the cards up and studied it. "Were they the ones with the really good mashed potatoes?"

Cameron nodded, swallowing back tears. She'd been so frustrated with all of this that she hadn't really bothered to ask for his help very much. He'd never complained about it, and when she _had_ asked for his input, he always said it was up to her. It drove her nuts, but she'd never told him that.

He set the card back down on the table. "We should get them, then. Everyone else had morbidly mediocre mashed potatoes." He looked at Foreman and Chase. "See that? I used alliteration to lighten the mood. I'm cool."

Chase and Foreman looked on in awe. House had, apparently, been paying attention the entire time Cameron had been looking at things for the wedding. He just hadn't bothered to let her know.

"And the cake?" Cameron asked quietly.

"I didn't really care for any of the places we've tried. Let's look some more."

She nodded slowly and put the caterer's card and the invitation in her bag before folding her hands and sitting quietly at the table.

Foreman frowned and stared at Cameron. Something was wrong… Something had to be wrong. "You … okay?" he asked hesitantly.

"Fine," she replied with a small smile. She stood and left the department without another word to any of the men.

Foreman, House, and Chase all exchanged worried looks. "I'm in for a major scream-fest, aren't I?" House asked his employees.

"Definitely," Foreman said.

"Without a doubt," Chase chimed in, speaking in unison with Foreman.

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Cameron stood at the bathroom sink, wiping her eyes as she cried. This was so idiotic. Why was she even crying! House had done what she'd wanted him to do all along: he'd made a choice instead of leaving it to her. So why was she so upset about it? Oh, right… Because he'd made a complete ass of her in the process.

She looked up from the sink as someone walked in. It was Cuddy, and Cameron sniffled and gave a small smile when the older woman rushed to her side. "What happened?" she demanded. "What did House do?"

Cameron laughed slightly and wiped at her eyes again. "Nothing," she said with a sniffle. "I'm just overreacting again."

In a surprising show of motherly qualities, Cuddy wrapped her arms around Cameron and let the younger woman cry on her shoulder. "What's it about?" she asked gently.

"The wedding," Cameron sniffed, new tears springing to her eyes.

"What about the wedding?" Cuddy asked gently, stroking Cameron's hair.

"Stupid decisions… Greg…"

"What happened?"

"He's so frustrating! I tried to get him to make a decision and he wouldn't, so I'd make them, and now that I'm getting frustrated, he just stepped right in and made them! And it would be okay, but he did it in front of Foreman and Chase and now I feel like a complete moron for getting so flustered about a stupid invitation!" Cameron sobbed out. "This is stupid!"

"You're allowed to be upset," Cuddy said softly, continuing to stroke Cameron's hair in an attempt to calm her. "It's your wedding and you want it to be perfect. He shouldn't have made the decisions in front of your coworkers."

"I hate being like this!" Cameron exclaimed, pulling away from Cuddy and wiping her eyes. Cuddy went into a stall and grabbed some toilet paper, handing it to Cameron. "I just want to have a perfect wedding and I want a baby. Cuddy, I want a baby. Like … right now." She blew her nose and threw out the toilet paper before washing her hands, despite the fact that she'd only have to wash them again later.

Cuddy smiled and rubbed Cameron's back. "Don't rush it," she said soothingly. "I'm sure you and House have enough sex to conceive in no time," she teased.

Cameron laughed, wiping at her eyes once more. "You'd think that! But it just isn't happening. And I want it to happen so badly…"

"You have plenty of time," Cuddy reminded her soothingly. "Don't stress yourself out over it. And if you still can't conceive within two months after the wedding, I'll even give you the name of my fertility doctor."

"Really?" Cameron sniffled with a hopeful look.

"Definitely." She handed the young woman some more toilet paper. "Okay now?"

Cameron nodded and blew her nose once more, throwing away the soiled paper and washing her hands again. "Thanks."

"Any time." She studied Cameron in the mirror and smiled. "You just let me know if I have to come in and smack House around a bit."

Cameron laughed. "I'll be sure to do that." She nodded to Cuddy's stomach, which was only barely swelling with her fourth month of pregnancy. "How's everything coming along?" she asked.

"Wonderfully," Cuddy answered with a joyful smile. "Ever since the morning sickness has passed, it's been smooth sailing. I've never felt healthier."

"Despite the Big Macs?" Cameron teased.

"Despite the Big Macs," Cuddy confirmed with a grin. "I'm having a shower, you know. Late August. You should come."

"Let me know the date. I'll be there," she answered with a bright smile. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. You should be there. After all, if it weren't for you, this hospital might have burned to the ground by now." Cuddy smiled when Cameron laughed and shooed her out the door. "Go on. Get back to work."

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"Where'd you go?" The question was asked by Foreman and met her as soon as she returned to diagnostics.

"I needed a walk," she said with a shrug. "I got frustrated and I just needed to get away from it for a bit."

"Is the 'it' in this statement your wedding plans or House?"

Cameron smiled. "Both." She looked around the department and didn't see House or Chase. "Where are the other two?" she asked curiously.

"Chase went to grab up the test results and House … just kind of left. I think he went to talk to Wilson."

"Probably." She sat down and opened up her laptop, putting on her glasses and logging onto the internet to check medical tomes for their current patient's symptoms.

"You seem really upset with this wedding stuff, Cameron," Foreman stated, genuinely concerned about his coworker's well-being. "Are you sure you should be planning by yourself?"

Cameron sighed and took off her glasses. "It's not…" She wasn't sure how to phrase what she was trying to say. "I'm not really doing it on my own. He does help…"

"Just not as much as he should?"

"Playing the role of big brother again, Foreman?"

"I'm good at it." He sipped at his coffee and leaned against the wall behind him. "Come on. Give me a reason to steal his cane and beat him with it."

Cameron laughed. "People are lining up to beat him for me. I don't know if I should be insulted or amused." She set her glasses down on the table and sat back in her chair, folding her hands together over her stomach. "He isn't as bad as you guys keep thinking. He really does help with some of the planning. It just gets frustrating when he tells me that the choice is mine and won't say anything beyond that."

Foreman grinned. "And do you press him to say anything beyond that?"

Cameron glared. "Don't you have a car to steal?"

With a snort, Foreman set his coffee cup down. "He's rubbing off on you."

"I suppose it's inevitable since I do live with him. And since we're engaged. And since we have copious amounts of sex." She laughed when Foreman gave her a disturbed look. "Oh, sorry… Too much information there?"

"Yeah, a bit."

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When they got home that evening, House and Cameron settled on the couch to watch a movie. The patient was stable and responding to treatment and _should_ be discharged tomorrow. 'Should' being the operative word.

Cameron leaned lightly into House's side, not minding in the slightest when he rested his arm around her shoulders. They'd discussed (argued) the situation with the invitations, caterer, and cake and he'd promised (after a threat of abstaining from all sexual activity until the wedding) to give more input at home so that they didn't have a repeat performance in the office.

As she zoned in front of the television, Cameron's eyes started to droop. House noticed and smirked, giving her a nudge to wake her up. She twitched and glared at him. "What was that for?"

"It's not even ten," he said, nodding to the clock. "You go to sleep before ten and you'll wake up at four and keep me up all morning." He grinned at her and whispered in her ear, "I could keep you awake…"

She made a noncommittal sound and sat up, stretching. "This movie is dead boring," she stated honestly. "Whose idea was this?"

"Yours. You wanted a romantic comedy, remember? I wanted to get _Evil Dead_, but you kept refusing."

Cameron cringed. "You and your scary movies… Ew."

He snorted and put his leg up. "You should learn to appreciate them," he told her. "It gives you cuddle time, Allison. What more could you want?"

"To spend the night with my face buried somewhere other than your chest. Maybe."

"You could always bury it in my-"

"I'm getting popcorn," she cut him off, setting a hand over his mouth to stop what she was sure would have been a very naughty comment. "Do you want anything?"

"I want to watch a horror movie," he pouted, nipping at her finger as she pulled her hand away from his mouth.

"Ugh. Fine," she conceded, going into the kitchen to make popcorn. "But no zombies and no creepy little girls crawling out of television sets."

"You take away all of my fun," he called to her, eyes scanning the many horror films that he owned. "You haven't seen _The Shining_, have you?"

"No…" She peeked into the living room as she waited for the popcorn to pop in the microwave. "Isn't that a Stephen King novel?"

"It's also a movie." He put the movie in and grabbed up the remote, leaving the DVD on the menu page as he waited for Cameron to come back with the popcorn.

"This had better not give me nightmares," she warned him, plopping down next to him and setting the popcorn in his lap.

"No worries. I'll keep you safe from the mean ol' ghosties."

She laughed and shoved him lightly as the movie started. "If I scream, you are not allowed to mock me. Got it?"

"I won't mock you," he promised, kissing her forehead. "And I promise to cover your eyes when the scary parts are coming up." He grinned as she relaxed into his arms. "I'll even spread my fingers so you can still peek through at the movie like you always do."

He kept to his promise, covering her eyes at the more intense parts of the movie. However, he couldn't help laughing when she screeched and jumped when Jack Nicholson started wielding an ax. This led to her slapping him and scolding him for laughing. He continued to laugh and grabbed her around the waist, settling her on his left leg and putting his chin on her shoulder.

"Are you done trying to abuse me?" he asked, mockingly wounded at her feeble attempts to harm him. He kept one arm around her waist and grabbed up the DVD remote with his free hand, turning off the movie.

"Only because you've _trapped_ me," she pouted.

He dropped a kiss on her shoulder. "Have you picked a dress?"

"Not yet." She lay back so that her head was resting on the arm of the couch, keeping her back arched slightly so that it didn't lie on his leg. "I've been looking through all of these bridal magazines and none of the dresses look right."

"Get one custom-made," he suggested with a shrug.

"Greg, that'll run a fortune."

He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Did I say there was a budget?"

"I was planning on paying for the dress since you picked up the cost of the reception…"

"We'll go out on Saturday," he decided for her. "We'll go to that dress shop that's right off of Princeton's campus and talk to the seamstress. See what she can do."

"Greg…"

"Shush. I'm making decisions. Revel."

She laughed and brushed a kiss over his lips. "What if I don't like your decisions?"

"Too bad!" he exclaimed playfully. "You wanted me to make them, so I'm making them." He paused and studied her thoughtfully. "Hope you don't mind your bridesmaids wearing cammo."

"Oh, God…" she groaned, covering her face and laughing.

"And black roses. I think they rock. They'll be _all over_ the place."

"Greg…"

"Oh! And I've decided that we should change the location. Forget The Laurie House. No, no… We're getting married at this small, seedy bar downtown."

Cameron continued to laugh uncontrollably.

"And did I tell you about the bikers!"


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer:** No matter how many times I try to buy them, they just aren't selling.

**Author's Note:** I meant to put this in the last chapter, but forgot. The Laurie House is a REAL historic inn three miles outside of downtown Princeton. I just had to put it in. ;-)

**Chapter Twenty Five**

May was, surprisingly, a relatively calm month. Cameron's dress had been chosen, all of the invitations had been sent out, and almost all of the details had been hammered down. Overall, things seemed stress-free outside of work.

At work, Cuddy's stomach was starting to swell. She wasn't a very happy camper when it came to the changes that her body was going through. She'd disclosed to Cameron that she felt fat, ugly, and annoyed most of the time. Cameron told her that she looked beautiful, and reminded her that Wilson did nothing but talk about her and the pending baby. It seemed to settle the dean of medicine's nerves to know that someone continued to find her attractive. House commented that her "fun bags" looked better than ever, and received a slap on the arm with a file folder.

By the middle of the month, Cameron wasn't feeling well. At all. She was having moderate vertigo, severe nausea, and terrible migraines. They'd just finished treating a patient with similar symptoms, and she wondered if she hadn't somehow contracted the disease. The problem with that hypothesis was that she didn't have any of the other symptoms.

They were in the middle of a differential session when she held her forehead in a hand and realized that she hadn't concentrated on a single part of what had been said. This was ridiculous. She needed to rule out one of the possibilities.

Finally, she looked at House with tired eyes. "I need a pregnancy test," she said plainly, not caring that she'd interrupted the differential session.

House blinked a few times before looking at Foreman and Chase. "We'll be right back." He glanced at the board as Cameron stood slowly. "Start him on prednisone and we'll take it from there." He and Cameron left the room, and he walked alongside her on their way to the clinic. "I was wondering when you were going to cave," he said with a smirk.

"Oh, shut it. It could just be a bug."

House nodded to Cuddy as he opened the door to the clinic. Cuddy raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me, you two. No sex in the clinic."

"Please? It'd be really kinky." House watched as Cameron gave a weak smile and nodded for her to go to the empty exam room. "I'm taking some of her blood. Part of it goes to a vial for me to wear around my neck, because I'm just _that_ creepy."

"And the other part?" Cuddy asked impatiently.

"Pregnancy test."

Cuddy grinned. "I hope it's positive this time."

"You would. I'd rather not have two pregnant women rampaging around this hospital."

"And if it _is_ positive?" the dean asked curiously.

House paused, tapping his cane on the floor. "I guess we're going to have to buy some baby clothes and whatnot. Name it. Figure out where the hell we're going to live, since my apartment is blessedly child-free."

"James has room," Cuddy suggested with a smirk.

"Then maybe _you_ should move in with him. You know… Since you're having his baby and all." He gave her a snide salute and went to the exam room that Cameron was in.

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The test results were on House's desk by the end of the week. Cameron looked at the envelope and chewed on her bottom lip. She'd picked it up and set it back down multiple times, not sure that she even wanted to open it. What if it was negative again? She'd had such bad luck lately…

House opened the door to his office and caught Cameron setting the envelope down again. "It's not your HIV test, you know. You got pissy enough when I opened that… I wasn't about to open the results to your preggers test."

She smiled and looked at the envelope, wringing her hands in front of her. "I can't do it," she said with a small laugh. "I can't open it. If it's negative again…"

"It isn't the end of the world," House told her, rolling his eyes. "So we have more sex. Do that cycle … thingy…" He picked up the envelope and Wilson walked into the room. He shoved the envelope at his friend. "Open that."

Wilson frowned and looked at the envelope. "It's addressed to Allison Cameron…"

"Open it," Cameron demanded.

The oncologist quirked an eyebrow in confusion, but followed the commands all the same. He read the sheet of paper in the envelope and grinned. "So… Is your baby gonna be a Gerber baby?"

"It's positive?" Cameron whispered, her hand going to her mouth.

"I think so. At least, it _says_ it is…"

"I'm pregnant?" she asked, a smile spreading across her face.

"You're pregnant," Wilson responded with a small laugh.

Cameron let out an excited squeak and threw herself at Wilson, giving him a tight hug. "I'm having a baby!" she exclaimed.

House cleared his throat. "Is _he_ the father?" he asked snidely.

Cameron laughed and ran to House, pulling his face down to her to give him multiple, small kisses. "I'm having a baby. We're having a baby!"

"I got that."

"Oh, God…" She laughed, holding her stomach with one hand and House's shoulder with the other. "Oh, God, Greg. We're having a baby."

He couldn't help laughing at her excitement. "Yes, Allison. You've said this. Multiple times."

"A baby!" she squeaked again.

Wilson laughed along with House, watching Cameron as she all but jumped up and down. "I think she's happy or something."

"I'm not," House pouted. "We're going to have to get a new place. And baby-bearer here isn't going to be able to help move anything. I'll need the other two ducklings and you to help."

"I can move things," Cameron responded with a frown.

"You _can_, but you _won't_," he responded sternly. "So sometime after the wedding?" he asked Wilson.

"But of course." Wilson loosened his tie and sat down in one of the chairs across from House's desk. "So when the hell am I getting my tux? The wedding isn't that far away."

"Ah, shit. I forgot about that." House turned to Cameron. "What color are the bridesmaid's dresses?"

"Uh… I have no idea. I left it to Angie."

House cringed. "She hates me. She'll pick black."

Cameron laughed. "She will not. She doesn't hate you; she's happy for me. I told her to stick to green, blue, or purple." She thought for a moment before sitting in House's chair. "I'll call her when we get home."

Chase and Foreman came into the office, arguing about a set of medical students that they'd been forced to listen to. Chase seemed to think that they had been sharp. Foreman thought they were dumb as a post. House interrupted their argument.

"Now, now, boys. If you're going to fight, use fists. I want Cuddy to have to clean up blood."

Cameron snorted. "That sort of worries me…"

"Don't let it," House said with a shrug. "We'll have a girl."

"You don't know that…"

"I will _turn it into_ a girl if I have to."

"You will not."

"Bet?"

"House…"

"She's aggravated," House said to Wilson. "She calls me 'House' when she's aggravated."

"I gathered as much," Wilson responded with a smirk.

"Gregory."

"Ooh… Saucy."

"Wait," Foreman demanded, holding up a hand. "You two are having a baby?"

"No. She's going to pass a kidney stone in nine months," House responded with a roll of his eyes. "It'll just be a really big one with ten little fingers and toes."

Cameron snorted and nudged his left leg with her foot. "Don't be an ass."

"It's why you love me," he responded. "So! Who wants to go tell Cuddy that we need a case?"

"Not it," Chase and Cameron said at the same time.

"Goddammit…" Foreman grumbled as he left House's office.

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When they arrived home that evening, Cameron sighed happily and leaned against the door after closing it. Everything seemed better now that she knew for sure that she was pregnant. House smiled at her behavior, dropping a kiss on her forehead.

"Are you happy?" he asked.

"Immensely," she answered with a bright smile, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him slowly. "We're getting married," she whispered in awe. "And we're having a baby, Greg."

He smirked at her as she bit her bottom lip, reveling in the fact that her dreams really were coming true. "And our wedding is going to be perfect," she continued. "And our honeymoon…"

"Two weeks in Europe?" he asked. "It'll be a blast."

"I want to see Paris," she told him with a wide smile.

"Good thing I speak French."

"And I want to see Spain, Greg."

"I speak Spanish, too."

"And Rome!" she exclaimed, laughing. "I want to see everything, and I want to see it with you."

"You're so damned cheesy, Allison," he scolded, pulling her close for a leisurely kiss. "We'll see everything you want to. Make a list or something. In the meantime…" He stroked her hip with a smile. "I think we should celebrate."

"Mmm… I think you're right. I want cake."

He laughed and pulled her toward the bedroom. "Can I get you to settle for something else?"

"Maybe… Is it sexy? And does it involve chocolate sauce?"

He smirked. "It can if you want it to. There should be some in the fridge."

"Hmm. Fridge is too far away," she decided, placing random kisses on his jaw and neck. "Bed's closer."

"We'll save the sauce for another time," he said slowly, hands going to her slacks to get them off of her. "Have I ever told you that I love these little vest thingies that you wear?" he asked, lips brushing against her ear as her pants fell. She stepped out of them, heels still on, as his hands worked at the buttons to her vest. "They're very professional. I just want to get you out of them."

"I figured you'd be one for imagining what's underneath them," she retorted, unbuttoning his shirt and pushing it off of him. "I almost went to work without panties today," she confessed in a naughty little whisper that sent her breath brushing against his ear.

"Did you, now?" he asked a bit breathlessly. The thought of Cameron minus the knickers at work made his jeans feel more than a little tight.

"Yeah… But I figured…" She got his tee shirt off and flicked her tongue over a nipple, delighting when his grip tightened on his cane. "I figured that I'd wait until I was wearing a skirt." She could tell that the thought was having a huge affect on him, and she loved that it was. "I thought… Wouldn't it be great to see Greg's reaction if I just _accidentally_ spread my legs just enough during a differential?" she murmured into his ear, nipping at the lobe.

"That's naughty," he commented, voice raspy. He dropped his cane to the ground and pulled her against him for a mind-boggling kiss, manipulating them so that she was straddling him on the bed. "I like it."

She actually giggled and winked at him. "Thought you might." She undid his jeans, pulling them off slowly along with his boxers. "I love it when you're naked." She delicately, and hesitantly, brushed a kiss over the scar on his right thigh before resting her chin on his left thigh and looking up at him.

"I love it when I'm naked, too," he responded, needing the clear his throat after speaking. No one should be as sexy as Allison Cameron. "But you're not naked, so it's not nearly as fun."

"I don't think I'm going to get naked this time," she stated with a sly smile, nipping at the inside of his thigh and grinning when he gave a low moan. "I might even leave the heels on."

"God, that's kinky." He looked down at her, pinning her with his eyes and daring her to keep to her promise. "Gonna tie me up, too?"

"Not yet," she answered before flicking her tongue over the tip of his erection. "I think I'll just tease you for a bit."

"Allison…" he growled as a warning.

"You get to tease me all the time," she pouted, caressing him with an innocent look on her face. What a joke; Allison Cameron was far from innocent. "I think I ought to have a turn."

He watched her between his legs as she alternated between kissing him and licking him, and found that he couldn't tear his eyes away from her. She was down there, still in her bra and panties, and _Goddammit_, but she still had those heels on. Knee-highs would have completed the outfit, but he didn't mind the fact that they were missing. She was sexy either way.

He wondered, for a moment, how she would look when her stomach started swelling. Still beautiful, still sexy as hell. He didn't imagine that she'd gain much weight; maybe twenty pounds. And he'd still want her. He supposed that was a very good thing, considering they were going to be together for a pretty long time. He moaned when she swirled her tongue around him, all of his thoughts leaving him. "Get up here," he demanded in a growl.

She smirked up at him and gave him one last lick before going up to brush a kiss over his lips. Her bra and panties were still on, though she'd finally ditched the heels. He tugged at her panties to get them off and she hurried to accommodate him, sitting on his stomach once the barrier was gone.

"Gonna leave the bra on?" he asked with a lazy grin.

"Yes," she replied, moving down his body until she was right above his erection, positioned to sink onto him. Moving agonizingly slowly, she lowered herself until he was fully sheathed inside of her and let out a low moan.

He gritted his teeth and tried not to buck his hips to hers. But she just sat there, grinning devilishly at him as she tightened her muscles before moving. "Oh, sweet Jesus," he choked out, hands gripping tightly at her hips.

She thought he might be holding hard enough to bruise her, but she would hardly mind. She absolutely loved it when she had him at her mercy; it reminded her that no matter how many times he might snark at her in the office or at home, she could dominate here. She could take control. And he would never mind.

He tugged at her hair, pulling her down to him to capture her lips for a heated kiss, moving with her as she led the way to bliss. _This_ was the life, he'd decided. Hot sex with his hot fiancé who was going to give birth to their brilliant child. Life could be perfect.


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer:** I still can't figure out how the hell to get my hands on them.

**Author's Notes:** Well, readers, this is it. The final chapter. Thank you for all of your reviews throughout the story, and I hope you all enjoyed it! I definitely enjoyed writing it.

**Chapter Twenty Six**

June was finally upon them. The days leading up to the wedding brought extra snark from House due to his own nervousness. He'd written his own vows, as had Cameron, and he was damned nervous about reading them in front of people. In front of a _lot_ of people. In front of his boss, his coworkers, his parents, his future in-laws… Just thinking about it made him nauseous.

He'd yelled, really yelled, at Foreman at least five times in the past three days, and for absolutely nothing. He'd disagree with a differential that House threw out, and House would scream at him about being an illiterate moron who should have stayed in the 'hood. And Foreman wasn't the only one getting insults thrown at him. House had a field day with Chase when the intensivist brought back an inconclusive test result.

"Why the hell did I even bother to hire you?" House shouted. "You're as useless as a fucking spoon when I want to eat a steak."

Chase gaped at House. "What the hell is your problem?" he asked angrily. "We always get inconclusive test results. Calm down."

"I'm not going to calm down!" he exclaimed angrily. "We're gambling with a _life_ here. An inconclusive test tells me that you somehow managed to fuck it up, just like you do with _everything_, and now we have to put the patient through _more_ pain before we can tell him what's wrong."

"Why are you so damned upset about this!" Chase exploded. "You're _never_ like this!" He paused, studying his boss curiously. "It's the wedding, isn't it? You're nervous about marrying Cameron."

"Not that it's any of your business, Blondie, but no. I'm not nervous about marrying her." He was nervous about his _vows_. They were so very… Not him. Allison Cameron turned him into a new, improved person. His eyes drifted down to the handwritten vows that were lying on his desk. "I can't wait to marry her."

Chase blinked and watched House nervously. "Are you sick?" he asked quickly. "I can get Wilson…"

"Fuck off."

"Nope. You're healthy." He walked to the desk and took a peek at the paper that House had been staring at. "You're writing your vows?"

House snatched up the paper. "Back off, Wombat."

Chase rolled his eyes. "Come on. You ought to have someone read them over."

"That's why I have Wilson. And Cuddy. And Foreman, even. Assholes who sleep with drugged women, essentially _raping_ them, don't read my vows."

"It wasn't rape," Chase snapped. "She called before she took the drugs."

"And you think that makes it okay?" House asked, his voice low and angry. "Get the fuck out of my office. I should fire you."

"She's even said it wasn't rape!"

"She's got a skewed sense of right and wrong."

"_Cameron_ has a skewed sense of right and wrong?" Chase asked incredulously, staring House down. He wasn't leaving this office without some kind of resolution. When House didn't speak, Chase waited for a while before speaking again. "I'm going to hear them anyway," he pointed out quietly.

House rolled his eyes and shoved the paper at Chase, tapping his cane nervously on the ground as Chase read over the vows. After several moments of Chase looking stunned, House snatched the paper back. "Well?" he snapped.

Chase stood there, looking absolutely gob smacked. "I…" He struggled to find the right words. "You're going to make her really happy," he finally said. "Congratulations, House."

For the first time since the start of the month, House smiled when Cameron wasn't around.

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House paced as Foreman read over the vows, fixing small errors here and there. Cameron was off getting blood work for the patient and Chase was doing his clinic duty, which left House the perfect opportunity to have his neurologist read over the vows that had evolved into two pages.

After he finished, Foreman looked up at House with… Was that admiration? "These are … amazing," he admitted with a smile. "Didn't think you had it in you, House."

"Yeah, well… You cuddle with a stuffed animal long enough and it'll start to rub off on you," he grumbled, taking the vows back. They now had corrections written in red ink.

"She's so good for you. You're good for her… The two of you are good together." He sat back in his chair and watched as House carefully folded the paper and put it in his pocket. "You nervous about the wedding?"

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" he groused, going to get a cup of coffee. "I'm not nervous about marrying Allison. It's these damned vows that I'm nervous about. I'm saying them in front of _everyone_. It'll ruin my reputation and we'll get overloaded with referrals."

Foreman laughed. "Shut up, House."

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For lunch, House went to Cuddy's office to meet with her and Wilson. They were the last two he'd have read over the vows before he was completely satisfied with them. He took a deep breath hand handed them over to Wilson, who was sitting next to Cuddy on the couch. The two read over the vows together as House took deep breaths, tapping his left foot anxiously on the floor.

When she was done, Cuddy looked at House with tears in her eyes. "You're…" She swallowed and gave a small laugh, standing (with a bit of difficulty due to her stomach) and walking to him, grabbing him up for a hug. "I'm so glad."

Wilson sat on the couch, smiling brightly at House. "I always knew she was good for you." He laughed when House had to hand Cuddy a tissue. "She's emotional."

House smirked. "You're tearing up, too," he pointed out. "Having sympathy emotions?"

Wilson laughed and went over to House, grabbing his hand and pulling him into a brotherly hug. "Congratulations, Greg," he whispered with a smile. "You deserve this. You deserve every bit of it."

House swallowed back his own tears. "Thanks, Jim."

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June twentieth. Cameron stood in one of the suites of The Laurie House and took a deep breath, looking in the mirror before her. Her hair was curled and piled on top of her head, a few tendrils falling loosely around her face. The veil was a tiara, holding her hair in place. She bit her bottom lip as she studied her dress.

It was cream-colored. Not white, as House had pointed out to her multiple times. Cream. It was sleeveless and dipped dangerously low in the back, but she couldn't pass it up. The silk taffeta hung just right and looked amazing on her thin frame. Along the bust was a spattering of small stars, embroidered in baby blue to match the invitations.

House had chosen the dress.

Cameron put a hand to her stomach to calm her nerves. This was it. The big day. And God, but she was nervous. What if she tripped walking down the aisle? She'd just die if she did…

Her mother was soon behind her, smiling with tears in her eyes. "You look beautiful, Ally."

Cameron smiled. "Thanks, Mom."

Angie came forward and slung an arm over Cameron's shoulders. "You look hot. If you weren't my sister, I'd do you."

Cameron laughed and nudged Angie, glad for her sister's blunt distraction. Angie had come out to the family at Easter, thereby distracting Jennifer from her normal bitch session at Cameron. Cameron couldn't have been more relieved; House thought the whole thing was hysterical.

Soon, Andrew came into the room and smiled tearfully at his daughter. "Oh, Ally… You look so wonderful." He kissed her on the cheek and she smiled, wiping the tears off of his cheeks.

"Am I the only one not crying?" Cameron joked with a grin.

"Nope!" Angie exclaimed with a happy smile. "I'm not crying! I'm happy you're marrying the grumpy cripple. He's not so bad."

Cameron winked at Angie and turned back to her father. "Is Adam ready with the rings?"

"You bet. He keeps running around the foyer. I think Dr. Wilson finally managed to calm him down and straighten out his tux."

The mental picture that painted drew another smile to Cameron's face, and she turned to her mother. "I'm … excited," she said with a small laugh. "I'm excited and nervous and… This is so different from Dean…"

Jennifer smiled and hugged her daughter. "Greg is what you need," she said with a small shake of her head. "He's cocky and egotistical and wonderful." They heard a violin start and Cameron squeaked. "Go on!" Jennifer pushed Cameron and Andrew out of the room, following them with Angie in tow.

The bridesmaids made their way to the front of the room, where House was anxiously tapping his cane on the floor. He couldn't help it; his heart was beating way too fast for normal. Was this what all grooms went through? Wilson seemed to notice his distress and discreetly pat him on the back. It was the reassurance that he needed, and he stopped tapping his cane on the ground. He was doing the right thing, marrying Cameron.

Then the doors opened again, and there she was. His breath caught in his throat. "Holy shit," he mumbled, drawing a snort of laughter from Wilson. "She's gorgeous," he whispered, prodding Wilson's shin with the cane.

"She's perfect," Wilson agreed, smiling as the woman in question made her way down the aisle. "And you're going to ruin that makeup when you say your vows."

"I live for it."

When Cameron got to the front of the room, the minister started the ceremony. They had originally planned on keeping religion out of it, but had settled on a non-denominational ceremony due to pressure from both sets of parents. Ironic that neither of the people getting married believed in God. The minister turned to Cameron and smiled. "Allison, you may say your vows."

Cameron took a piece of paper out of her bouquet, hands shaking as well as her voice. "I've worked for you," she started, able to look him in the eyes as she'd memorized most of the vow. She just had it on her for a safety net should she forget. "I've cried over you, hated you, loved you, and now I'm marrying you. Life has thrown me some curveballs, and I haven't always been able to hit them. You've become my pitcher and my backup batter all in one."

He smiled at her sports metaphors. God, but he loved her. She hated sports metaphors. Hated them. But she'd use them for him.

"When life throws me a curveball now, you're there to hit when I strike out. When I need some strength training, you pitch fast ones. I've struggled for years to assert myself, and you've managed to pull me up in a matter of months. I love you, Greg. I promise to be loyal, honest, and as disobedient as humanly possible."

The small crowd that had come for the wedding laughed. House smirked at her and winked.

"My heart is yours. My body is yours. I expect to get bruised in the years to come. And I know that you'll heal every one of them."

The minister smiled as Cameron placed the paper back in her bouquet. "Greg?"

House took a deep breath, hand gripping his cane tightly. He took a deep breath and began slowly. "What I am … is what you need," he started. "I'm damaged. You live under the delusion that you can fix everything that isn't perfect." He paused, watching the shocked look on his bride's face. "You, Allison, are a doctor. You live to heal people; to put the band-aid on and make it better. There isn't a band-aid big enough for me in this world."

He cleared his throat and fingered his cane nervously. "I hired you because you were a brilliant, gorgeous puzzle. There was something … intriguing about you and I couldn't figure it out. I wanted to figure it out. You stumped me. When you admitted to being attracted to me, you shocked me. When you told me that you hated me, you hurt me. When you made a mistake, you upset me. You would open your mouth and I prayed for you to shut it."

Cameron swallowed, refusing the urge to run out of the room. What the hell was he doing! He was ruining their wedding day!

"And then… Fucking _roaches_…"

Cameron laughed lightly.

"One week with you had me kicking habits I never really wanted to get rid of. I was melancholy and I loved being that way. You, Allison Cameron, blindsided me. You may as well have taken my cane and whacked me over the head to get some sense into me." He paused, looking down at the ground. "I was living under the delusion that I didn't deserve to be loved. You, Dr. Cameron-soon-to-be-House, have cured the ailment. Your annoying drive to heal people has worked. I promise you that I will love you, help you, and annoy the shit out of you all at the same time. The only thing I will not do is leave you. I expect the same from you and know, without you having to tell me, that I'll get it."

Cameron's eyes filled with tears halfway through House's vows, and by the time he finished the small monologue, they were streaming down her face.

"I fell in love with you, Allison," he finished, swallowing down his anxiety. "You make me want to better myself. We're going to have an amazing two weeks in Europe. And then, you're going to have brilliant fun standing by my side while I go through full physio."

"Greg…" Cameron sniffed, not knowing what to say. House reached out and wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"Smile, damn it," he murmured to her, which caused her to laugh through her tears.

The minister was speaking in the background. Something about forever and happiness. And then telling House to kiss his bride, which was something House did with abandon. When they pulled out of the kiss, their guests were clapping. Cuddy, Wilson, Chase, and Foreman were cheering. The minister smiled and presented them to the crowd. "I present to you Mr. Greg House and his wife, Mrs. Allison Cameron-House."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

House and Cameron had decided that they couldn't exactly share the first dance. So they'd settled on a wedding song that was unconventional, much like they were. And House announced the fact to their guests.

"As most of you can probably figure out, cripples aren't all that great on the dance floor," he said sardonically. "Allison and I decided that it would be rather idiotic to have a wedding song that everyone could dance to, because if I'm crippled, you're all crippled for our wedding song, too. It's only fair."

Cameron laughed and buried her face in her hands.

"This song isn't just for us," he added, nodding to Wilson and Cuddy. "Boy Wonder over there knocked up our Dean of Medicine and they've somehow done this whole love thing, too. So this is for you two, as well as us. And we got a DJ," he continued, "because no band will _ever_ be able to cover Queen properly." He nodded to the DJ and their song started playing:

_Open up your mind and let me step inside.  
__Rest your weary head and let your heart decide.  
__It's so easy when you know the rules.  
__It's so easy…  
__All you have to do is fall in love.  
__Play the game.  
__Everybody play the game of love.  
__When you're feeling down and your resistance is low…  
__Light another cigarette, and let yourself go.  
__This is your life.  
__Don't play hard-to-get.  
__It's a free world.  
__All you have to do is fall in love.  
__Play the game.  
__Everybody play the game of love.  
__My game of love has just begun.  
__Love runs from my head down to my toes.  
__My love is pumping through my veins, driving me insane.  
__Play the game.  
__Play the game.  
__Play the game.  
__This is your life.  
__Don't play hard-to-get.  
__It's a free world.  
__All you have to do is fall in love.  
__Play the game.  
__Everybody play the game of love._

(FIN)


End file.
